Government of Indian has decided to impose strict censorship laws on all OTTs (Over The Top) platforms in India. OTT platforms, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Zee5, ALT Balaji and many more need to follow the censorship rules.
With the new announcement, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will regulate and monitor all digital content being produced and streamed in India. This brings all the OTT platforms under the purview of Ministry of I&B.
In a gazette notification dated November 9, the government amended the Allocation of Business Rules and said that “Films and Audio-Visual programmes made available by online content providers” and “News and current affairs content on online platforms” will be brought under the I&B Ministry.
Before this, online streaming platforms had been outside the rules and regulations framed by the Censor Board. In 2019, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had said that the government will not take any step that may curb media freedom. He had, however, said that there should be “some kind of regulation” on over-the-top platforms similar to print and electronic media.
Though the platforms claim that they do self-regulate, several OTT services have come under fire for their content which some alleged were insulting particular religions or communities.
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