The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (MIB), L Murugan, told the Rajya Sabha on Friday that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had handled 73 complaints during the previous three years over the airing of pornographic, indecent, and vulgar television commercials.
Rule 7 of the Advertising Code stipulates that "indecent, vulgar, suggestive, repulsive or offensive themes or treatment" must be "avoided" in television advertisements.
The MIB issued a recommendation in 2017 telling TV stations not to broadcast condom advertisements between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. because they were "alleged to be indecent, especially for children."
The self-regulatory Advertising Standards Council of India's 2023–24 annual report states that while the overall compliance rate was 80 per cent and the digital ad compliance rate was 75 per cent, the voluntary compliance rate in print and on TV was 97 per cent.
A three-level grievance resolution system "suitably" addressed the allegations, according to Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan's written response in the Rajya Sabha.
According to Murugan, the system, which was put in place by the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, consists of a central government supervision mechanism in addition to broadcasters' self-regulation and self-regulation by their self-regulating bodies.
The self-regulatory Advertising Standards Council of India's 2023–24 annual report states that while the overall compliance rate was 80 per cent and the digital ad compliance rate was 75 per cent, the voluntary compliance rate in print and on TV was 97 per cent.
According to the minister, "advisories, warnings, 'Apology Scroll' orders, and off-air orders" are issued whenever violations of the Advertising Code are discovered.
In response to a different query, Murugan stated that Part-III of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Regulations, 2021, mandates that OTT platforms follow the Code of Ethics.
According to the minister, "these codes are self-regulatory in nature,"
According to Murugan, these Codes of Ethics mandate that publishers refrain from sending any legally forbidden information and self-classify content into five age-based categories using the broad principles outlined in the Rules.
According to the rules, while attempting self-classification, it is important to consider the historical background of the content as well as the current norms of the nation and its citizens, he said.
According to Murugan, the Code also mandates that OTT platforms provide sufficient controls to limit children's access to age-appropriate content.
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