In a new development on the OTTs vs government conflict, OTTs have decided to bow down to government demands. Streaming platforms have reportedly written a letter to the government, pledging to increase self-regulation of their content and practice responsible content creation.
The letter to the government was submitted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the Indian Digital Media Industry Foundation on behalf of the industry. In the letter, the streaming platforms reiterated their commitment to creating content responsibly, implementing reliable age verification mechanisms for content and adhering to self-regulation.
Ever since the government’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has proposed to issue a consultation paper, seeking to regulate OTT services, streaming platforms in India are a worried lot. The government has been gunning after obscene or inflammatory content on OTT, and has promised to come down harshly on streamers that continue to play content with too much nudity, expletives or incendiary ideas.
Amidst increased scrutiny by the government and the Information & Broadcasting Ministry on OTT content, spooked Indian streaming platforms have decided to take matters into their own hands, and reassure the government, regarding OTT content.
In recent days, the government and the Information & Broadcasting Ministry have made it amply clear that they will not take provocative, obscene and expletives-laden content on OTT lightly. The government has time and again warned OTT platforms in India to practice due diligence and self-regulation at their end, to make streaming content somewhat cleaner.
Though the government has specified that it will not censor OTT content just yet, it still wants to exert some kind of control over the content streamed on OTT. Controversies regarding Taandav on Prime Video and Rana Naidu on Netflix exacerbated matters further.
I&B Minister Anurag Thakur has repeatedly warned OTT platforms to curtail their use of expletives and cuss words, as also sex and nudity, in their content.
Let’s see how the government responds to this new peace offering from streaming platforms.