Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary for Policy and Administration at the I&B Ministry. Photo: Twitter/@PIBMumbai
Streaming providers ought to keep away from placing out content “which is harmful, which is illegal, which is offensive and brings a bad name to your country when you’re going abroad,” a prime official at the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting stated at a panel dialogue on Thursday. Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary for Policy and Administration at the I&B Ministry, was talking at a dialogue on self-regulation in streaming throughout the FICCI Frames 2023 occasion right here.
The IT Rules, 2021 have been a “moral solution” for producers, by binding them ethically on content. Mr. Sahay expressed satisfaction at the self-regulatory mannequin below the IT Rules for submitting complaints in opposition to content on OTT platforms, saying just one grievance in opposition to on-line content had been appealed all the method as much as the inter-departmental committee fashioned by the authorities.
On Wednesday, I&B Secretary Apurva Chandra had alluded to “murmurs about the quality of the language” used on streaming applications.
Awareness hole
Ajit Thakur, co-founder of the Telugu-focused streaming service Aha, stated that there was an consciousness hole amongst the public on the IT Rules mandated system for complaining on on-line content, and on the obligatory age-gating function to password-protect mature content for youngsters. “In TV, a scroll used to run continuously telling viewers that you can write to BCCC (Broadcast Content Complaints Council),” Mr. Thakur identified, including that each trade and authorities must work to unfold consciousness on the function.
“What becomes uncomfortable is to have senior elected officials talking about banning programmes,” Nitin Tej Ahuja, CEO of the Film Producers Guild of India stated. “Even they need to be aware that there is a mechanism that exists [to redress grievances against content].”