Centre blocks 18 OTT platforms for streaming vulgar, obscene content
Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting says 19 websites, 10 apps and 57 social media accounts linked to the OTT platforms have also been disabled for public access in India
The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on (Thursday 14) said it has taken action to block 18 OTT platforms and social media accounts associated with them for publishing obscene, vulgar and in some instances pornographic content.
In a statement, the ministry said 18 OTT platforms and 19 websites, 10 apps (seven on Google Play Store, three on Apple App Store), and 57 social media accounts associated with them have been disabled for public access in India.
The OTT platforms are Dream Films, Voovi, Yessma, Uncut Adda, Tri Flicks, X Prime, Neon X VIP, Besharams, Hunters, Rabbit, Xtramood, Nuefliks, MoodX, Mojflix, Hot Shots VIP, Fugi, Chikooflix and Prime Play.
“Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur has emphasised the responsibility of the platforms to not propagate obscenity, vulgarity and abuse under the guise of creative expression,” the release said.
The decision to act against the OTT platforms was taken under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in consultation with other ministries/departments of the government, and domain experts specialising in media and entertainment, women's rights, and child rights, the statement said.
Why the platforms face ban?
The government said a significant portion of content hosted on these OTT platforms were “obscene, vulgar and portrayed women in a demeaning manner.”
“It depicted nudity and sexual acts in various inappropriate contexts, such as relationships between teachers and students, incestuous family relationships, etc. The content included sexual innuendos and, in some instances, prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes devoid of any thematic or societal relevance,” the release said.
According to the release, this kind of content is being watched by a massive number of people with the one of the said apps amassing over 1 crore downloads while two others had over 50 lakh downloads on Google Play Store.
“Additionally, these OTT platforms extensively utilised social media to disseminate trailers, specific scenes, and external links aimed at attracting audiences to their websites and apps. The social media accounts of the concerned OTT platforms had a cumulative followership of over 32 lakh users,” the release said.