Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill adequate, no need for such a law

The ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) will not come out with any fresh draft of the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill as there’s no need for such a law, official sources said.

A draft Bill was withdrawn last week following public criticism that it proposed to bring online content creators under the purview of licensing or registration. Sources, however, said the draft was withdrawn after it was felt that regulations were already in place and a new law was not required.

The government is working on a Digital India Act, and if any further issue needs to be addressed, it will be done through that, sources said.

Speculation about a new draft started after the I&B ministry had tweeted on the day of withdrawal of the Bill that a fresh draft would be shared with the stakeholders after further consultations.

The contentious Bill had been in the works since November 2023. Ashwini Vaishnaw, who took over as the I&B minister in the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in June this year, expressed his reservation about the Bill and reportedly pulled up the officers concerned over the manner in which it was drafted, sources said.

The Information Technology (IT) Rules, which were amended in 2021, have provisions to deal with any objectionable content on social media by blocking them as well as the handles which post them. Under it, all social media platforms have appointed grievance redressal officers who need to liaise with the government as well as consumers over such complaints.

This clause in the IT Rules is significant because the biggest criticism against the draft Broadcasting Bill was the provision with regard to checks on online content creators and influencers on social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, etc. It was proposed that if their viewership crossed a certain threshold then these creators and influencers would have to pre-certify their content through a content evaluation committee. This was seen as a government overreach and a kind of censorship.

“When the IT Rules already empower the government to check any objectionable content, what’s the need to have another set of rules,” an official told FE.

Similarly, the Broadcasting Bill had provisions to regulate the content services of over-the-top (OTT) entertainment apps such as Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar.

Under the Bill, OTT broadcasting players were required to intimate the government within a period of one month from the notification of the proposed Act about their operations and the number of subscribers they have, and other requirements.

This was also seen as superfluous as provisions to check any excesses already exist.

Under the IT Rules, streaming services like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime are already required to classify all content into five age-based categories as is done by films and TV currently. The categories are U (Universal), U/A 7+ (years), U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).

If consumers feel that there’s been a violation of any of the guidelines or code of ethics laid down for OTTs, then they can seek redressal through a three-level grievance redressal mechanism with different levels of self-regulation.

In the first level, the grievance would be handled by the producers or content creators. If that is not satisfactory, the matter will reach the second level where there would be self-regulating bodies comprising producers or content creators, which will be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, or high courts, or eminent person from the domain. If these two levels fail to satisfactorily address the grievances then the matter would be looked into by an oversight mechanism which would be a mix of inter-departmental government and industry panels.

“So, once again it was felt that there’s no need for any new provisions for regulating content on such platforms, so why bring a new Bill at all,” the official said. Financial Express