Government Proposes Stricter Anti-tobacco Messaging Rules For OTT Platforms

In a bid to intensify its anti-tobacco campaign, the government has introduced new draft regulations that will enforce stricter health warnings on online curated content (OCC) platforms, including popular video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. These proposed regulations are designed to target smoking scenes in digital content, compelling platforms to include explicit anti-tobacco messaging.

According to the draft rules, all OCC platforms will be required to display non-skippable anti-tobacco health spots, each lasting a minimum of 30 seconds at the beginning and midway through any content featuring tobacco use. These rules are expected to apply to all releases from 1 September 2023 onwards.

In addition to the health spots, the regulations mandate a 20-second audio-visual disclaimer warning about the dangers of tobacco use, to be shown at the start of the content. For scenes that specifically feature smoking or tobacco consumption, static anti-tobacco warnings will need to be displayed throughout.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare made the draft announcement on 13 September 2024, seeking to amend the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2024.

The government has opened a 30-day public consultation period, during which individuals and organisations can submit feedback before the regulations are finalised. The ministry emphasised that these steps are necessary to strengthen public health efforts and combat tobacco-related diseases, which continue to be a major health challenge in India.