Govt. Bans 18 OTT Platforms Under 'Obscene Content'

The Indian government launched a major crackdown on 18 over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms in a move to curb the dissemination of what it deems as obscene and vulgar content. The platforms were found to be hosting content that portrayed women in a demeaning manner and contained explicit sexual scenes devoid of societal relevance, Centre said.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) implemented the ban, citing violations of legal provisions under the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986. According to the ministry's press release, the content on these platforms was found to be in violation of Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

The banned OTT platforms include Dreams 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. These platforms utilised social media extensively to disseminate trailers, specific scenes, and external links to attract audiences to their websites and apps, according to the government.

"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 3 million users," said a release from the Ministry.

The government's action has led to the disabling of 19 websites, 10 apps and 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms. One of the banned platforms had approximately 10 million downloads, while two others had nearly 5 million downloads each on the Google Play Store.

The ministry said that the content hosted on these platforms was not only obscene and vulgar but also portrayed women in a demeaning manner. The content included sexual innuendos and prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes without any thematic or societal relevance.