Over a period of the last few years, OTT platforms have really grown a lot. A lot of other OTT platforms have also been introduced like ALTBalaji, Hotstar Specials, Disney plus etc. Last year the I&B ministry of India started to preview the online streaming services. There were expectations that the board might put some rules to censor content which is put on the online streaming platforms.
The most recent controversies going on in the OTT platforms related content is about the recently released websites Tandav and Mirzapur 2.
As per Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Union I&B, he ministry is soon going to release guidelines for the online streaming platforms which they will have to strictly follow as there have been numerous complaints raised against many of the web series and movies.
Prakash said that they have heard a lot of complaints against some serials which are aired on online streaming platforms and as the films and serials which are released on those platforms does not come under any rules by Press Council Act or Censor Board or Cable TV network Act, it would be the Ministry of I&B who would come forward and take the necessary decisions.
THE NEW GUIDELINES
The minister has currently said that they have not made any specific law for the content creators to follow for now. Nor are they planning so far to create any guidelines which have to be followed.
Earlier the OTT platforms were used to be governed by the Information Technology Act, 2000, but governments transferred the control to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to have a better control over the platforms and make sure that content does not lead to complaints.
So now, there will be a complaint redressal forum where people will be able to raise complaints against the OTT platforms content and there will be a retired judge from the High Court or Supreme Court who will take the cake of the complaint and take the necessary measures.
We are expecting that just like the film censor board, the I&B Ministry will also come with new guidelines which the platforms will have to follow. Though we think that OTT platforms make a very good and somewhere at some point they even try to show the reality. What do you think, should there be any guidelines for the OTT platforms?
