To check vulgar content, govt bans 18 OTT platforms

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New Delhi, March 14

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) in coordination with various intermediaries has taken action to block 18 OTT platforms publishing obscene, vulgar, and, in some instances, pornographic content.

In all, 19 websites, 10 apps (seven on Google Play Store and three on Apple App Store), and 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms have been disabled for public access in India, the Ministry said on Thursday.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur has repeatedly emphasised the responsibility of the platforms to not propagate obscenity, vulgarity and abuse under the guise of ‘creative expression’.

The recent decision was taken under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, in consultation with other ministries/departments of the Government of India, and domain experts specialising in media and entertainment, women as well as child rights.

A significant portion of the content on these platforms depicted nudity in various inappropriate contexts, such as relationships between teachers and students, incestuous family ties and more. The content included sexual innuendos and, in some instances, prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes devoid of any thematic or societal relevance.

One of the OTT apps amassed more than one crore downloads, while two others had over 50 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store. Additionally, these OTT platforms extensively utilised social media to disseminate trailers, etc., to attracting audiences.