Confirmed: Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar & 37 Other OTTs Will Be Regulated By Govt Of India

The controversies surrounding Tandav, an Amazon Prime originals series featuring Saif Ali Khan as the lead character, has ignited a lot of fire. After the public went on strike to discourage a scene in Tandav showing one of the Hindu deities in a bad light, 21 MPs have voiced their concerns.

They include Tejashwi Surya, Ravi Kisan and Shobha Karandlaje from BJP and Dean Kuriakose and Ranveet Singh Bittu from congress, and Pinaki Misra from BJD. They have raised some questions asking the government if it is aware of loads of sexual, vulgar, violent and abusive, and disrespectful content released on the platforms.

Not only Prime videos but all the OTT platforms are going to be under the lenses. The government is planning to regulate the content posted on all the 40 OTT platforms including main players like Netflix and Hotstar which are active in India.

What Measures Is Government Taking Against OTT Platforms?

As we reported earlier, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had announced the government’s plan to set guidelines to regulate content on OTT platforms.

It is expected that these guidelines will be made public in the next week.

Besides, the I&B Ministry has also encouraged these platforms to formulate the guidelines for themselves which is a good thing. According to sources, the ministry is at the final stages of forming the guidelines.

Why Are These Guidelines Being Formed?

The ministry had passed the first set of guidelines for OTT platforms in the month of November last year. It was regarding amendments in the allocation of business, which suggested all the 40 OTT platforms active in India will come under the Ministry of  Information and Broadcasting and were asked to register for the same.

But this time the guidelines are more extensive. The ministry was forced to form these guidelines when the government got complaints and grievances against some scenes from the recent Amazon Prime original Tandav. 

These scenes ripped the audience apart for disrespecting Hindu Gods. However, the matter was blown out of proportion to an extent that all the OTT platforms now have to go under inspection.

What Measures Did Tandav Makers Take Against The Complaints?

The makers of Tandav had to talk to Prakash Javadekar and bent down. They publicly released a statement saying that they will edit the particular scenes. They had to undergo rigorous consultations from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

The IAMAI guided them in developing a self-regulatory mechanism to filter out content that is appropriate to release on OTT platforms.

According to the ministry, IAMAI had developed this self-regulatory mechanism in the month of August last year. However, it was found out that the mechanism built by IAMAI does not completely go hand in hand with the law that prohibits some content. Hence the association was made aware of the conflicts in September 2020.