Draft policy for OTT platforms already made

The government has drafted a policy to regulate over-the-top platforms, which allows viewers to stream contents through the internet.

In addition, the government has taken the decision to begin prosecuting individuals involved in spreading rumours from abroad.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud yesterday informed the above during a meeting of his ministry at the Secretariat, reports BSS.

Examples of OTT platforms are Netflix, Hoichoi, Amazon Prime, etc.

“OTT platform is now a reality of growing demand. But, there has been no approval system for releasing cinema, drama, web series or any other content on OTT platform till now. We’ve already made a primary draft on the policy for OTT platform,” he told newsmen.

The minister hoped that his ministry could issue a notification of the policy soon.

He said it is very tough to censor contents on OTT platforms through the censor board.

“It is easy to censor cinemas as 50 to 100 films are released every year. But it is not easy to censor hundreds of contents on the OTT platform. For this, we have made a draft of the policy which we will publish as notification after scrutiny,” he added.

He said the policy has been made to protect the country’s culture and heritage from deviation and lead the society and its people, including youths.

The minister said currently social media is added with mass media. Social media has given unfettered opportunity to people to express their opinions, said Hasan, also the ruling Awami League’s joint general secretary.

At the same time, he said, it was also seen that the social media was being used to create instability in society and spread propaganda against the government or individuals.

The minister said some people are trying to spread rumours and to create confusion among the public by sitting abroad, through social media and online news portals.

“We have taken actions against them on behalf of the government through coordination of other ministries. But, in this case, many times we didn’t get proper support which is needed from service providers. For this, we are in discussions with service providers,” he added.

The minister said a decision has been taken to take action against those specific persons as per the existing law of the country from where they carry out the propaganda. Daily Star