Parliamentary panel seeks government action against obscene and pornographic content on OTT platforms

New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel has asked the government to take steps to prevent OTT platforms facing action from sharing obscene and pornographic content by renaming their programmes or changing IP addresses using Artificial Intelligence.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey also wanted the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to draft laws to provide for deterrent punishment for repeated offenders.

In its report of Demands for Grants for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the committee said it has been informed about blocking 18 OTT platforms publishing obscene and, sometimes, pornographic content in March last year.

Nineteen websites, 10 Apps (seven on Google Play and the rest on Apple App Store) and 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms were disabled for public access, the Ministry told the panel.

The Part III of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 deals with OTT platforms and it mandates that those providing access to content which has an ‘A’ rating should restrict access to a child through access control measures.

The panel asked the Ministry whether contents blocked by the Ministry on 18 OTT, 19 websites and 10 apps are easily available on social media and other media platforms like Telegram Channel and if it is happening, it should provide a plan to deal with it.

It also asked whether the existing legal framework is enough to deal with this issue or more stringent laws are needed to deal with it against the backdrop of latest technologies available.

The Committee also “advised” the Ministry that provision for some sort of deterrent punishment should be put in place for repeated offenders in this regard.

“The Committee would also like to know whether the OTT platforms committing the same mistake under the guise of changing the name of programmes, changing the means of dissemination and changing the IP address etc., with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are strictly dealt with,” the report said.

The multi-party panel has also asked the Ministry to spell out the steps taken to deal with adult content aired on social, digital and electronic media and action taken against the channels, which are "persistent lawbreakers" in terms of violating the norms laid down in the Cinematography (Amendment) Act, 2023.