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- Published: March 20, 2023 15:14
New Delhi: Anurag Thakur, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, has taken a firm stance against OTT platforms. Throughout his latest press conference, Thakur stated that OTT platforms were provided liberty for ‘creativity and not for obscenity’. He also stated that the ministry will implemented a number action to ‘stop profanity and offensive language’.
According to Thakur, “These platforms were given the liberty for creativity and not for obscenity, and when one surpasses the limit, then flinging abuse in the name of art cannot be acceptable at all.
“The ministry is prepared to take that into consideration if it is necessary to make any modifications to the rules regarding this. These venues were given discretion to foster innovation rather than profanity. And when someone goes too far, abuse and rudeness committed in the name of creativity cannot be tolerated in any way. The administration will not back down from taking whatever steps are necessary in this regard, the minister continued.
At the meeting, Anurag Thakur also spoke about the concerns against OTT platforms and revealed that approximately “90 to 92% of the concerns are solved by them by implementing the necessary modifications”.
“The level of their organization is where the majority of complaints are resolved, which follows on to the next level of complaint resolution. The government level, where decisions are made in accordance with established norms at the departmental committee level, is the last level. But somewhere over the past few days, concerns have started to rise, and the department is treating this very seriously. We are prepared to carefully explore a change if it is necessary, he said.
The government issued a strong warning to many streaming and satellite TV firms, including Netflix, Hotstar, and Amazon Prime Video, among others, last year as well. The authorities warned them that continuing to run commercials for gambling and betting will result in penalties.