The Indian government has said approximately 1,800 digital news publishers have provided it information regarding their respective companies as mandated by the country’s new digital regulations.

Though India’s digital guidelines, popularly known as the IT Rules, doesn’t mandate digital news portals or OTT platforms register with the government, but some basic information about the setups have to be provided to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) so that relevant people could be contacted in case of complaints realting to content, MIB joint Secretary Vikarm Sahay said while speaking at webinar organized by the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on ‘Digital Media Ethics Code 2021’.

Sahay, according to a report in indiaeducationdiary.in said that the purpose of the Ethics Code in the IT Rules was to make the news publishers and OTT platforms aware about the guidelines so that the unity, integrity and harmony of the country could be maintained.

“The common citizen is the centre of Digital Media Ethics Code 2021. The objective of the Ethics Code is to maintain the quality of content posted on OTT platforms while preserving the Freedom of Expression”, the report quoted Sahay as saying.

Sahay further added: “The role of digital media has grown tremendously over the years. Internet data usage has increased by 43 times in six years. India is the fastest growing OTT market in the world. This market is expected to reach ($) 2.9 billion by the year 2024 with an annual growth rate of 28.6 percent.”

According to the MIB official, complaints about content broadcast on the OTT platforms  were being received from time to time and to address these issues the Digital Media Ethics Code “has been formulated”.

According to the report, Sahay reiterated that the print and TV media were regulated by the Press Council of India and the Cable TV Networks Act, 1995, respectively. But there was no such regulation for content on digital platforms, including news.