Recently, the Government of India brought over-the-top (OTT) platforms, such as Netflix, Hotstar, etc., from the purview of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. India is a big and growing market for OTT platforms. The Covid pandemic and the resultant lockdowns provided a boost to the popularity of these platforms.
Last year, several major OTT platforms entered into a self-regulation toolkit. The OTT platforms took into consideration the recommendations of the government while drafting the code. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry suggestions regarding the redressal mechanism were also incorporated in the code. The primary reason for this was to avoid government regulation.
Currently, India does not have any official body to regulate the content on OTT platforms and the OTT platforms largely operate with a self-regulatory mechanism. The content on these platforms is not regulated by the Central Board of Film Certificate or any other regulatory authority. The primary reason for this is that OTT platforms are relatively new to the Indian markets and the laws have not been able to adapt themselves to the fast-changing market scenario. However, bringing these platforms under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting could pave the way for their regulation in the future. The Government also seems to be working in this direction.
In February 2022, the Government issued Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. These Rules envisage a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism to be set up by the OTT platforms. Any grievances would be firstly dealt with by the mechanism set up by the OTT platforms. Secondly, a self-regulatory body headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court or any other eminent person from a relevant field would address the grievances. This body would consist of 6 members and would be registered with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. And lastly, an oversight mechanism in the form of an inter-ministerial committee established by the Government would address the grievances.
These Rules also require the OTT platforms to follow the existing rules, regulations and codes, such as Norms of Journalistic Conduct and Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, that are followed by the television media and print media. It also empowers the Information and Broadcasting Secretary to block public access to content on OTT platforms. The OTT platforms are also expected to take into consideration the diversity of India and the religious sentiments of the Indian people while broadcasting content on their platform. Furthermore, the Rules mandate the OTT platforms to classify their content on the basis of age into 5 different groups. Control mechanisms will also be put in place by the OTT platforms.
Considering the growing reach of the OTT platforms and the controversies in which these platforms often landed due to their content, regulation of content streamed on these platforms had certainly become the need of the hour. However, the Government must ensure that regulation does become over-regulation and sufficient freedom is given for the expression of artistic freedom.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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