The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has issued an advisory to OTT platforms regarding indecency and obscenity in content amid the vulgar joke row on 'India's Got Latent' show.
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00:00All right, big news coming in.
00:01The union government's big OTT policing
00:04is possibly kicking in right now.
00:06The Information and Broadcasting Ministry
00:08has decided to put OTT platforms,
00:10which are basically the digital platforms,
00:13content, and applications that we have right now,
00:16on notice.
00:17This is in the backdrop of reportedly
00:19indecent, inappropriate, whether jokes or remarks
00:22that are being flagged.
00:23Remember, digital content, unlike whether it's television,
00:26has a very different guideline,
00:28and there are a lot of loopholes
00:30that allegedly are being misused,
00:32and that it could influence,
00:34especially the youth, in a negative manner.
00:36There's been an advisory that has gone
00:38to all the OTT platforms,
00:39some of them on your screen, very popular,
00:42and there is on indecency, on obscenity.
00:46These are some of the issues on which
00:49there has been an advisory that's gone to them.
00:51An advisory for now,
00:52but could this become a stricter order in the days to come?
00:56OTT platform must adhere to the law,
01:00and can be seen, perhaps, the first step
01:01of a government OTT crackdown as well.
01:05I bring in Piyush Mishra here.
01:07Piyush, go ahead, tell me, the government, for now,
01:11bringing in an advisory already,
01:12what kind of an advisory is this for the OTT platforms,
01:15and what is happening in this case?
01:18What we are now learning, Pooja,
01:20is that the government has decided
01:21to bring an advisory for OTT platforms,
01:24and this has come in the wake
01:25of, for a little bit, Allahabadia comments controversy.
01:28Remember that Asad has also been lodged in that case.
01:32He was also summoned,
01:33but so far he has not appeared for the summons,
01:35but now the government has decided
01:37to issue notice to OTT platform,
01:40where in its advisory to OTT platforms
01:43against Nishita, the indecency and obscenity,
01:48the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
01:50has issued an advisory to online curated content publishers
01:55and self-regulatory bodies of OTT platforms
01:57to ensure that strict adherence is there to India's laws
02:01and code of ethics,
02:02those are prescribed in the information technology.
02:05That is the big development which is now coming in,
02:06where the government has made it very clear
02:09that the OTT platforms will have to adhere to India's laws
02:13and also the code of ethics,
02:15those are prescribed in the information technology.
02:18Remember that earlier also there was a demand
02:20which was made by multiple opposition leaders
02:22that they had to regulate the OTT platforms,
02:26but at this time,
02:27it seems like the government is very stern on this
02:29and that is why the advisory has now been issued.
02:31All right, Piyush, Mishra continues to track that.
02:34Piyush, stay on with me,
02:35because can we say that one,
02:36there is of course a separate case,
02:38charges that have been filed against India's Got Latent show,
02:42but because of that,
02:42and there have been concerns about other shows as well
02:45on different OTT platforms,
02:46that this has now led to perhaps a bigger action.
02:51If not action right away,
02:52at least an advisory that has come in
02:53that could be the first notice
02:55that the government is sending.
03:00All right, we'll go across to Piyush.
03:01Piyush, if you can hear me.
03:03Remember that-
03:03Well, absolutely.
03:04Yes, go ahead, go ahead, Piyush.
03:06That's the advisory which has been issued by the government
03:08in which it has asked all the OTT platforms
03:10to follow rules and regulations.
03:12Earlier, the government had also summoned
03:15a few social media platforms,
03:17which includes YouTube, Facebook, and others,
03:19when the other controversies had erupted,
03:21and government had asked these OTT platforms
03:26to follow the rules,
03:27but this time, advisory has been issued
03:30to all these OTT platforms.
03:32In fact, a couple of days back,
03:33there was a meeting also of Standing Committee
03:35of Parliament on Information Technology.
03:37In that meeting, which was led by Ishikant Dubey,
03:40he had asked the secretaries of IT and INP
03:43to ensure that no such incident takes place,
03:46no such vulgar comments are uploaded on OTT platforms,
03:51and in the wake of that, we are now seeing how
03:54the government has issued advisory to the OTT platforms
03:57and has asked them to follow rules and regulations.
04:00We'll have to wait and watch,
04:01but more steps the government is further going to take
04:03as far as regulating the content on these OTT platforms.
04:05So, remember, like, for example,
04:07the films have a certain film certification board,
04:10television also has the NBDA Association,
04:13and therefore, for digital content,
04:14usually there hasn't been too many filters.
04:17Even though YouTube has its share of guidelines itself,
04:19there are strikes, but many have alleged
04:22that in the garb of that freedom was a lot being said
04:26and that could hamper the youth.
04:28But there's another side to the debate
04:30that should government come in here?
04:32Does it deserve a state action
04:34or a crackdown of this nature?
04:36So we'll be tracking all that and more
04:38about what's happening in this case.