IT minister calls for stricter rules for OTT platforms

There is a need for tighter regulations to deal with cybercrimes, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

Replying to questions in Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw underlined the need to have “a lot of discussions and a broader consensus” on bringing “stricter norms” for over-the-top (OTT) platforms to check the telecast of movies and serials that create disharmony among various communities and religions.

“This subject of cybercrimes, the way it is affecting our children, actually there is a need to have a consensus for making much tighter regulation. There is no doubt about it,” the minister said during the Question Hour.

“(Whenever) we make cyber laws tighter by even a little bit and try to implement it, all of our members start shouting that democracy is being throttled and people’s right to freedom is being taken away.”

Raising the issue of cybercrimes and children becoming victim of cyber bullying, Congress member Hibi Eden had noted that existing cyber laws were “quite weak” to deal with the problem, and asked if there was a specific instruction from Vaishnaw’s ministry to increase the awareness level of officials in various government departments on cybercrimes and also making it part of the curriculum for students.

Replying to a question asked by Congress member M.K. Vishnu Prasad as to whether the government would consider bringing in stricter norms to censor the OTTs where movies and serials create disharmony among various religions and communities, the minister said all over the world, people are “really worried” with the way social media intermediaries have become “all pervasive today”.

“All over the world, people are really worried where the entire cyber world is moving because the way social media intermediaries have become all pervasive today. So the point that the member has raised today needs a broader consensus, not only in India but across the world. We need to have lots of discussion and a broader consensus in our society for this,” the minister said. PTI