Govt examining issue of objectional content on OTT platforms

The government is already examining the issue of objectionable content on over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms, Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and new and renewable energy, Pralhad Joshi said in Hubballi, Karnataka, on Sunday.

“Worldwide, this [such objectionable content] is a problem. Time to time, the government will always think on that, and the ministry concerned will take [action on that]. Already we are working on that, this obscene scenes, whatever we receive through OTT. … the government is already examining that, as far as I know,” Joshi told news agency ANI.

Joshi’s remarks came a few days after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology met to discuss subjects for deliberation for 2024-25. The committee, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey, held its first meeting on October 7 after its new composition was announced.

This committee is tasked with examining the functioning of ministries of information and broadcasting, electronics and information technology, and communications. In the October 7 meeting, the members decided to review the implementation of laws related to all forms of media and to review the mechanism to curb fake news. It also decided to examine the emergence of OTT platforms and issues related to them. Under MeitY, it decided to examine the regulation of social media and digital platforms, impact of artificial intelligence, emergence of new forms of currencies and their impact, and the regulation and monitoring of digital and cyber crimes, amongst other issues.

In this first meeting, the members also decided to examine the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) (adopted in 2022) and the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 to see if there are provisions that could be adapted for the Indian context. Two members, on the condition of anonymity, told HT that this examination is very open-ended and preliminary at this stage, given that this was just the first meeting of the committee in the new term.

Both these laws regulate online intermediaries (including social media platforms and e-marketplaces) by placing due diligence obligations on them. The aim is to prevent illegal activity online and to protect users, especially children, online. Dis- and misinformation are core concerns that both the laws sought to address.

To be sure, India has parallel laws in the form of Information Technology Act, 2000, and underlying rules, especially Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 that place similar obligations on intermediaries, particularly social media platforms with more than 5 million users in India. MeitY, while deliberating on these rules between 2018 and 2021, closely followed and examined the discussions around DSA and OSA, both of which were in draft stage at the time.

However, one of the members cited above said that the current Indian laws are not “aggressive enough” to protect women and children online, or to regulate “fake news” and fact checkers, or the harms arising out of artificial intelligence.

The committee wants to examine if a comprehensive act is required to address issues related to the online safety, but it is not clear if it will relook at Digital India Act. Digital India Act, first mentioned by the then minister of state for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in early 2022, was intended to replace the IT Act. Chandrasekhar had held two public meetings in Bengaluru and Mumbai in March and May 2023, respectively, where he had shown identical presentations stating the aims of the bill, but no official white paper or bill was ever circulated for public consultation. Since the general elections, conversations around DIA within MeitY have taken a back seat. Hindustan Times