Netflix India has said it was studying and analyzing the digital guidelines announced by the Indian government early February even as it unveiled a slate of 40+ new shows that would be streaming on the platform in 2021.

“We are still analysing and going through those (digital) guidelines, but I believe that the goal of the government and the industry is to come together and do the best for the consumers and creators. That is the journey any entertainment service will be on, and our slate should be a testament to how bullish we are on just telling great stories and entertaining India,” Monika Shergill, vice president, content, Netflix India, told Press Trust of India (PTI).

Shergill didn’t seem too worried about the new guidelines and said the company was focused, instead, on putting out “high impact” content and a list of shows that was more than double Netflix’s 2020 offering.

In the first week of February, the Indian government announced sweeping guidelines for social media and OTT platforms, and digital news publishers that in a nutshell could be said to have empowered self-regulation under government oversight. The guidelines sought to put an end to a free run of edgy, highly political and sexual content on streaming services, apart from trying to check spread of misinformation and fake news on SM and on the Internet from within and outside the country emphasizing on identification of  `first originator’ of such messages on SM platforms

However, late last week the Supreme Court had expressed displeasure over the  The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code), Rules, 2021 dubbing them “toothless” on the ground that it had no provision for prosecuting defaulters. 

The government counsel went on record to tell the apex court that the government was willing to draft a new legislation, addressing the court’s concerns, and place it before the judges for review.