NEW DELHI: Amid criticism of nudity and excessive violence streaming on over-the-top (OTT) platforms, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur on Sunday said the government views the matter seriously and, if required, the ministry will consider amending the rules.
“Abusive language in the name of creativity will not be tolerated. The government is serious about the complaints about increasing abusive and obscene content on OTT platforms. If there is a need to make any changes in the rules regarding this, the ministry is willing to consider that. These platforms were given freedom for creativity, not obscenity” said Thakur.
The minister added that abuse and rudeness in the name of creativity couldn’t be accepted at all. He was addressing a press conference in Nagpur. “Whatever necessary action needs to be taken on this, the Government will not back down on that ,” Thakur said.
According to the information and broadcasting ministry, 57 OTT platforms are operational at present. Briefing about the complaint redressal mechanism, the minister said the process so far is that the producer has to resolve the received complaints at the first level. He said 90-92 per cent of the complaints are resolved by producers by making necessary changes.
The next level of complaint resolution is at the level of their association, where most of the complaints are resolved, he added. “At the last level, it comes to the level of the government, where action is taken on the departmental committee level, according to the rules in place. But somewhere complaints have started increasing in the last few days and the department is taking it up very seriously. If there is a need to make a change we are willing to consider it,” Thakur said. In January, Thakur had batted for creative autonomy and said adequate safeguards were in place to monitor content on OTT platforms.
“Creativity should not be reined in, it should have autonomy. But it should not be too much that anything can be shown. We have kept adequate provisions and till date they are working fine,” Thakur had said on January 15 while participating in the 75th anniversary celebrations of ‘Panchajanya’ weekly, the RSS mouthpiece.
On Sunday, Thakur said there was a three-stage mechanism to deal with content on OTT platforms.
“As per the current procedure, producers have to address complaints about the content first and then they go to their association. When a complaint reaches the government (I&B department), strict action is taken as per rules,” he said.
Platforms given freedom for creativity, not obscenity
“If there is a need to make any changes in the rules regarding this, the ministry is willing to consider that. These platforms were given freedom for creativity, not obscenity,” Anuraag Thalur said. The minister added that abuse and rudeness in the name of creativity couldn’t be accepted at all. He said 90-92 per cent of the complaints are resolved by producers by making necessary changes. Creativity should not be reined in, it should have autonomy. But it should not be too much that anything can be shown.