If you have clicked on this article then probably you have signed up for opinions and not just news. So before we begin with the opinion part, let’s tell you the real news that forms the basis of this article.
Former Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar runs an NGO called “Save Culture Save Bharat Foundation”. The man alleged that OTT platforms like “Netflix” and “X” involve themselves in unlawful acts that undermine India’s cultural heritage.
He has called for including provisions in the upcoming Digital India Bill that could “ban” any platform for the propagation of sexually perverted content. Somehow he also wants to make India, the world’s first pornography free country.
The news part is over now. Opinion begins.
Any place with an active internet connection is equally accessible to pornography. There is absolutely no way porn content can be banned. In 2018, several websites were banned in India but they did not result in any improvement. India is still one of the biggest consumers of porn in the world. Also, governments can just regulate or ban URLs. There is absolutely no way to keep away from porn until or unless users decide to stop watching on their own. So, if someone wants to make India porn-free, “Sweet Dreams”.
Now, let’s come to the OTT part. Firstly, OTT platforms are not serving porn. They can be highly explicit but that is still not porn. Binged has always raised problems with unnecessary explicit content, but we have the absolute realization that OTTs are easy targets.
Whoever wants to “save culture” ensures to attack OTT because they have an impact which is hard to ignore. Before 2016, the word OTT was pretty much alien to the Indian masses. Still, we had no less sexual perversion in our country than today. Also, there is never any data to establish any connection between sexual perversion and OTT platforms.
It is also very important to think, about why the onus of saving culture falls upon OTT platforms. There are tons of problems in the way our society functions. Still, we somehow gather the luxury or ignorance to attack OTT platforms that usually serve content for an adult audience.
So next time if someone is blaming OTT for the degradation of Indian cultures, ask yourself whether OTTs are really so impactful for you or the people around you. Because Netflix has less than 7 million subscribers in India and it seems to be too incapable of influencing people outnumbering 1.5 Billion.
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