As Netflix Series IC 814 Sparks Social Media Debate, Here’s What Centre Told Parliament Recently on OTT Regulation by StuffsEarth

Bollywood actor and BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Mandi Kangana Ranaut, who finds herself in the midst of a controversy over her latest film Emergency, had recently asked the Centre if it was aware of the content being shown on OTT and YouTube platforms and whether there were plans to make strict guidelines to regulate the same.

The battle over tightening the noose around OTT content is back in the spotlight amid the social media backlash against Anubhav Sinha’s recent Netflix series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack. Concerns over content that could influence teenagers and youth, promote nudity and vulgarity, and be inappropriate for Indian culture were raised not just by Ranaut but also other Members of Parliament, including TDP’s Dr Byreddy Shabari and BJP’s Pratap Sarangi and Dr Vinod Kumar Bind — prompting a reply from the government.

In Parliament, the Centre said strong laws were already in place to keep an eye on what was being aired. Minister of state for information and broadcasting Dr L Murugan said: “The government has notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, (IT Rules, 2021) on February 25, 2021, under Information Technology Act, 2000. These Rules provide for a Code of Ethics for publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms) which, inter alia, require the publishers not to transmit any content which is prohibited by law for the time being in force and to undertake age-based classification of content into five categories, based on general guidelines provided in the Schedule to the Rules.”

He added: “The Code also provides that the OTT platform will put in place adequate safeguards for restricting age-inappropriate content for children. In March 2024, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting took action and blocked 18 OTT platforms for publishing obscene and vulgar content under the provisions of section 79(3)(b) of IT Act, 2000. So far, as the content on intermediary platforms like YouTube, Facebook, etc. is concerned, IT Rules, 2021 cast obligation on such platforms to make reasonable efforts by itself and to cause the user of their computer resource to not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, etc. knowingly and intentionally any information which is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another’s privacy, including bodily privacy, insulting or harassing on the basis of gender, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that is harmful to child.”

With pressure mounting on the Netflix series amid questions from netizens over why the names of the terrorists were changed and they were portrayed as humane, the Centre has summoned the content head of the platform to meet the officials of the Ministry of Information and broadcasting on Tuesday.

Adviser to the I&B Ministry, Kanchan Gupta, had recently put out a thread recalling the hijack saga as he was involved with the government then as adviser to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.