Govt mulls stricter laws to monitor OTT content

The government’s efforts to combat “vulgar content” on social media and OTT platforms require strengthening of the laws, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament today.

Vaishnaw was responding to a question during zero hour by BJP MP Arun Govil about laws to check “abusive” content online, including that on social media and OTT platforms.

The government’s stand on the issue comes close on the heels of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s open call on Vijayadashami (Dasehra) to regulate digital platforms.

Bhagwat had, in his customary Vijayadashami address from the RSS headquarters in Nagpur’s Resham Bagh, blamed OTT platforms for perpetrating “moral corruption” in society.

“It would be improper to even speak about the kind of content being shown on OTT platforms. This needs to be controlled through laws because OTT content has become one of the principal causes of moral corruption in Indian society,” Bhagwat had stated. The RSS chief had also cautioned consumers of OTT platforms on the issue.

In the Lok Sabha today, Vaishnaw said there “is a difference between our culture and that of the countries where these platforms originate (referring obliquely to the West)”.

There is a lot of difference between the (cultural) sensitivities of our country and those of these countries. “So, I would like the standing committee (of Parliament) to take up this issue... the existing laws need to be strengthened, and I request a consensus on this,” he said.

Vaishnaw said there was a lack of “editorial check” on the content posted online. “Social media is a big medium of the freedom of the press but, at the same time, due to a lack of proper editorial check, vulgar content is also played.”

Govil, who played Lord Rama in the popular TV series, “Ramayan”, in the 1980s, claimed that the content on social media “does not match Indian culture” and called for a government watchdog to “keep a close eye” on the material posted online.

There was a row in September over a Netflix web series on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

The row over the changing of two terrorists’ names led to protests and the government stepped in after which Netflix said future content would be “in accordance with the nation’s sentiments.”