In February, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that MIB has redressed 265 grievances against over-the-top (OTT) content under IT rules, 2021. Yet the list doesn’t end here. While many consumers may be aware of the redressal mechanism, there are many more who usually end up filing a police complaint or take to vandalism. The real issue sometimes, these complaints are not valid yet often an angry mob leads to destruction. “While the three-tier system has been given the green light, there remains a dearth of awareness among the consumers. Most of the complaints have been resolved by tier-1 but it is important to create some mechanism to find whether these complaints are valid or not,” Nitin Gupta, chief content officer, Chaupal OTT, a multi-regional OTT platform, said.
Interestingly, the majority of industry experts have highlighted the need to re-evaluate the definitions of objectionable content such as half-truths, indecency, causing annoyance, among others Part III of the IT Rules, 2021, to preserve online free speech and promote creative freedom, as per recently released joint study by The Dialogue and IAMAI titled ‘IT Rules: A Regulatory Impact Assessment Study. Moreover, it also stressed the need for greater emphasis on ensuring the optimum use of grievance redressal mechanisms by the users. Furthermore, the report suggested that nine out of 10 content creators, directors and producers highlighted that petty complaints requesting a ban and injunction on creative works under different forums and criminal sanctions impact their ease of doing business. “Over the last decade, India’s content regulation space has progressed rapidly and the IT Rules, 2021, marked a significant milestone in the Platform Regulation ecosystem. The ongoing deliberations for the new IT Act provide an important opportunity to address new aspects through greater research and multi-stakeholder dialogues which will ensure that our policies continue to remain rights-enabling as well as innovation-friendly,” Kazim Rizvi, founding director, The Dialogue, said.
What is wrong?
Premium video-on-demand (VOD) is growing engagement in India, according to a recent report by Media Partners Asia. Total consumption across the online video sector reached 6.1 trillion minutes for the 15-month period from January 2022 to March 2023. Within this, the premium VOD category had a 12% share when compared to 10% in 2021 with YouTube and remaining dominant with an 88% share. MPA in its report stated that the 12% number compares well with other emerging markets that is Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines where the norm for premium VOD share is below 10% but trails more developed markets such as Australia at 35%. Interestingly, India is not too far behind markets such as Japan and Korea where the norm is 15-20%.
To be sure Disney+ Hotstar led premium VOD category consumption over CY 2022 versus Q1, 2023 with a category viewership with 38% share over the measured 2022-Q1 2023 period. This was driven by sports as well as the depth of its Hindi and regional entertainment.
As per industry stakeholders as and when guidelines will be revisited there is a need to create well-defined targeted principle-based regulation. What this means is that as broad definitions of prohibited content open avenues for subjective interpretations
and enforcement which can stifle civil rights and creative freedom, hence there is a need to create a structure. Secondly, it is important that the government, platforms and civil society work collaboratively to raise awareness and empower the users. Add to that, multiple complaints against multiple producers and OCC platforms for hurting religious and national sentiments. As per the report, the frequent instances of criminal complaints against directors and producers and demand for injunctions are an unreasonable restriction of their creative freedom and economic rights. Experts argue that a ban or injunction would directly result in the violation of Article 19. “A lot of time and effort goes into making the content. Platforms take precautions keeping in mind the sensitivities of the audience,” Gupta, added.
Looking back
Content on over-the-top (OTT) platforms has always gained traction, from day one. And the pandemic just fueled this growth. With the increasing diversity in content, regulations too caught up. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 introduced a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism, including a government body at its third tier, attempting to regulate a previously unregulated sector. “There were regulations for TV and theatres but as the internet evolved and as these apps proliferated, they invoked regulations. There were extensions of different laws from different acts like the Information Technology Act and even from the Indian Penal Code applicable to the platforms for violation of any associated law,” Rakesh Maheshwari, former senior director and group coordinator, cyber laws and data governance, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The online curated content (OCC) platforms, a subset of OTT platforms, have been requested to categorise content based on five age categories – – U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+ and A (Adult). As per the code of conduct, platforms are required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher and a reliable age verification mechanism for content classified as A. “We segregate the content according to the code of conduct. The content is marketed while keeping in mind the age segregation. The platforms have lower complaints owing to the three-tier grievance redressal mechanisms compared to social media,” Soumya Vilekar, co-founder and CFO, Planet Marathi, a Marathi OTT platform, said.