The government of India, while taking action against inappropriate content on streaming platforms, had blocked 18 OTT services in March earlier this year, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting L. Murugan informed his parliamentary colleagues yesterday.

Replying to a question from parliamentary colleagues in Lok Sabha (Lower House) on obscene content, the Minister said in a written reply, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting “has taken action and blocked 18 OTT platforms for publishing obscene and vulgar content under the provisions of section 79(3)(b) of IT Act, 2000”.

He further clarified that the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media, Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, enacted on February 25, 2021, under the IT Act, 2000, provides for a Code of Ethics for digital news publishers and publishers of online curated content, popularly known as OTT platforms. The code prescribes certain norms as safeguards against age-inappropriate content for children, along with adequate access control measures.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had been asked by few parliamentarians whether the government had taken any steps to curb child nudity and obscene content on OTT platforms and whether it was noticed that the content shown on OTT platforms should be monitored to prevent obscenity and vulgarity in the name of entertainment