Feb 21, 2025 04:47 AM IST
The ministry of information and broadcasting issued an advisory directing streaming platforms to ensure that they do not transmit illegal content
The ministry of information and broadcasting issued an advisory directing streaming platforms to ensure that they do not transmit illegal content, and that their content is classified according to age.
The advisory, issued on Tuesday, follows references from parliamentarians, regulators and public grievances, and the immense blowback to comments made by podcaster Ranveer Allahabadia on a YouTube comedy show. The advisory also addressed self-regulatory bodies (SRB) of streaming platforms such as Netflix, JioHotstar and Amazon Prime Video.
The advisory directed the streamers and their SRBs to take measures under part three of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The advisory “requested” the SRBs to take “proactive” action when the streamers violate the Code of Ethics.
“This ministry has received references from Hon’ble Members of Parliament, representations from statutory organisations and public grievances regarding alleged spread of obscene, pornographic and vulgar content published by certain publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms) and Social Media,” the advisory read.
The advisory cited the Indecent Representation of Women Act, 1986, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 to say that “publication of obscene/pornographic content is a punishable offence”.
To be sure, under Part III of the IT Rules, MIB is the nodal ministry for streaming platforms (identified as “publishers of online curated content”) and online new publishers (“publishers of news and current affairs content”). Social media platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) are governed under Part II of the Rules by the IT ministry.
YouTube, on which the India’s Got Latent video was uploaded by comedian Samay Raina, is governed by both ministries. For content uploaded by users (such as random knitting videos), YouTube is considered a social media intermediary and is thus protected from liability for such content. For its the premium content that it curates and licences, including movies, it is a streaming platform and thus the age classification requirement will apply to such content.
Raina’s India Got Latent and similar videos would be considered user-generated content. Thus, YouTube will be treated as an intermediary and not be required to apply age classification, as required under the Digital Media Ethics Code.
