After the Central Government decided to rule against creating a separate autonomous body for OTT and digital streaming platforms, Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister, Prakash Javadekar asked the media fraternity to set an example by exercising “responsible freedom”. He made this plea on Monday, along with the denial of the censorship board.
The Centre brought all digital and online media, films and audio-visual programmes, news and current affairs content under the domain of the Ministry of I&B, last Wednesday (11th November). This was issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, with the President signing the notification which made all the above content available for the I&B and its Minister’s perusal. But as we know, on Monday, the I&B stated that they weren’t interested in censoring or controlling OTT platforms and online News platforms.
Of course, there were some concerns regarding the addition of unwanted illicit content and the Government announced that it had plans to create monitoring techniques to help and keep an eye on the OTTs for this particular issue. I&B has asked all OTT platforms and digital streaming services to remain vigilant and to have an idea about what they are releasing for the country to see.
Minister Prakash Javadekar goes on to say that “Over The Top Platforms” doesn’t need a regulatory body or a self-regulatory system. The freedom of expression should not be stopped and every streaming platform has a right to display any artistic content. The Minister goes on to say that there is only “good” and “bad” content, and it is rooting out the “bad” content that they should be aiming to do.