In a recent press conference held at Nagpur by Mr Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Sports and Youth Affairs warned the various OTT (over-the-top) media platforms of strict action.
The Indian Minister, Anurag Thakur, in a recent Press conference, accused various OTT platforms of using vulgar and abusive language in the name of creativity. The OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, and Zee Video, out of all other existing OTT platforms, were warned to stop using indecent language and adhere to the code of conduct. And in future, if need be Government will consider taking action against them due to the rise in the number of complaints coming in.
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WHAT IS THE ISSUE?
A lot of complaints were registered against the use of foul language and inappropriate scenes in the web series which were handled by the producers for the time being and a three-tier redressal mechanism was introduced to address complaints from the users. A Lot of teenagers tend to consume such content so the platforms have been warned to adhere to the code of ethics, some improvements were made by the producers so that the content could be consumed by the audience of a particular age group or audience in general.
STEPS TAKEN TO STOP THE USE OF FOUL LANGUAGE IN WEB SERIES
Another issue that was brought to light last year was the airing of advertisements on satellite TV and streaming media services that promote gambling and betting. An advisory was issued to stop the airing of advertisements on satellite TV and streaming media services that promote gambling and betting, if not stopped the producers will have to face penal action. There is no involvement of the censor board of film classification and these platforms have the autonomy to provide self-classification of their content like the films, web series or podcasts, whatever they produce.
WHAT IS AN OTT PLATFORM?
OTT, an over-the-top media service, is an online platform for streaming audio-visual content curated online. The platform became a significant source of entertainment during the pandemic when all the movie theatres were shut down due to COVID-19 regulations. The OTT platforms, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Hotstar, ZEE5, Sony Liv, ALT Balaji, Eros etc., are made available to the audience on their phones, computers, laptops, and TV after they pay for a subscription on their platform. People get access to all the web series, movies, podcasts etc.
OTT SHOWS THAT PROMOTED OBSCENITY!
Recently a new web series was released on Netflix, ‘Rana Naidu’ starring Rana and Venkatesh Dagguabti which faced a lot of criticism due to the presence of steamy scenes and the use of cuss words. Another web series that promoted the use of obscene language was ‘Mirzapur’ which streamed on Amazon Prime, starring Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, and Divyendu Sharma as main leads. A recently released web series, ‘Farzi’ which addressed the issue of counterfeit notes was released on Amazon Prime, starring Shahid Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi, kay kay Menon and Bhuvan Arora, also contained vulgar scenes and language which is not appropriate for people below 18 years of age.
