Platforms such as Netflix and Hotstar will now have to censor their content

During a joint press conference on 25th February 2021,  with Minister of Electronics and IT, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad and Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Prakash Javadekar,  announced guidelines for OTT platforms. They stated that the ministry is not bringing censorship to OTT, but letting the OTT platforms offer age-based classifications themselves.

The Indian government has proposed a new regulatory model to govern over-the-top(OTT) video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hotstar. The regulatory model called Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 has been provisioned under Section 87 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. According to the new regulation these video streaming apps will now have to classify their content into five different age-based categories namely

•  Adult category
•  U/A 16+(content that can be viewed by a person below sixteen years)
•  U/A 13+(content that can be viewed by a person below thirteen years)
•  U/A 7+ (content that can be viewed by a person below seven years)
•  Universal(suitable for everyone)

Apart from the classification of content, platforms will be required to execute parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher. 

OTT platforms will now have a three-tier censorship model and for now, the government has announced a timeline for the implementation of this draft model.
The first tier of this model involves self-regulation, which the OTTs and social media need to implement.

The second tier involves one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. This panel will censor the content, but cannot take any action.

The 3rd tier will have a regulatory officer of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting who can issue a direction to block access to any movie, series being streamed via OTTs, and also content being shared on social media.

Many  film personalities and politicians welcomed new guidelines for OTT platforms by tweeting

FINAL NOTE

According to me this new regulation model will lead to consolidation or termination of small OTTs, which have always been relying upon salacious content. So, this will augur well for global giant OTT’s and TV broadcast based OTTs.