OTT content to be censored? Govt assures strict action against obscenity and abuse

New Delhi: The content on OTT platforms gets more liberty in the absence of censorship as it is only required to comply with self-classification of the content with appropriate content descriptor. Time and again, the debate over the the censorship of OTT has heated up with people raising objections to the use of abusive language and display of obscenity in OTT content.

Now, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur has assured that the ministry will take strict action to stop obscenity and abuse on Over-the-top (OTT) platforms.

Notably, India’s OTT viewership stands at 43 million people and is projected to rise up to 50 million by the end of 2023. OTT platforms gained prominence mostly in the times of Covid when cinema halls were shut and people could watch latest movies and show at their homes, thanks to OTT. But the rising popularity of OTT platforms hosting a wide variety of content has often raised issues regarding its regulations.

Now, Anurag Thakur has said that the government is serious about the complaints on increasing obscene content on OTT platforms and the rules may be changes, if need be.

"Abusing in the name of creativity will not be tolerated. Government is serious about complaints of increasing abusive and obscene content on OTT platforms. If there is a need to make any changes in the rules regarding this, the ministry will consider in that direction as well," Anurag Thakur told the press in Nagpur.

"These platforms were given freedom for creativity, not obscenity or abusing. And when someone crosses a limit, then abusing, rudeness in the name of creativity cannot be accepted at all. Whatever necessary action needs to be taken on this, the government will not back down from it," he added.

Amid a rise in complaints, Anurag Thakur explained that at the first level, the producer has to remedy the situation.

"After that the complaints are resolved at the level of their association, then most of the complaints are resolved there. When it comes to the level of the government, then strict action is taken at the level of the departmental committee, according to whatever rules are in place. But somewhere complaints have started increasing in the last few days and the department is taking it very seriously. We will think seriously if we have to make some changes on this," the Minister added.

In January this year, Anurag Thakur made a strong pitch for creative autonomy and said there were adequate safeguards in place for monitoring content on OTT platforms. "Creativity should not be reined in, it should have autonomy. But it should not be too much that anything can be shown. We have kept adequate provisions and till date they are working fine," Thakur said. He made the remark while participating in the 75th anniversary celebrations of 'Panchajanya' weekly, the RSS mouthpiece.

At that time, he had also admitted that the ministry does receive complaints about content on OTT platforms, but almost 95 per cent grievances are settled at the level of producers, while others get resolved at the second stage of the association of publishers of the content.

OTT content in courts
The matter of obscenity and vulgarity in content on OTT has often reached courts in India, including High Court and the Supreme Court where people demanded that the content be regulated.

Just last week, the Delhi High Court took cognizance of no control on vulgarity on OTT. It observed that the content of the TVF-produced web series 'College Romance' on Sony's OTT platform was "obscene, lascivious and profane". The Court also asked the government to take steps to check the language on such platforms. The judge ruled that TVF, the show's director Simarpreet Singh and actor Apoorva Arora are liable to face action under Section 67 (publishing or transmitting, in the electronic form, any material which is lascivious) and 67A (punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Notably in October last year, the Supreme Court of India has reportedly dismissed a petition to preview and censor OTT content in India. The Petition reportedly asked for pre-screening of content with a bunch of committee members for all kinds of web series, OTT films, and other content that gets released on the Digital streaming platforms in India.

Currently, there is no censor board for OTT content and the first attempt to provide a dedicated framework for the previously unregulated OTT sector was the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules). It envisaged the creation of a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism which included a government body at its third level.