Coming Soon: Guidelines for content on OTT platforms

Ahead of the likely government guidelines for OTT platforms in India, Business Stanard reports that nearly 17 companies, including the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar-Disney, Zee5 and Voot, have endorsed a code of conduct. This will form the basis for self-regulating the content generated by OTT platforms in India.

Confirming the development to Business Standard, Gourav Rakshit, co-chair of the digital entertainment committee at IAMAI and COO of Voot, said 17 online curated content providers had signed up on the tool kit to implement the code of conduct. “There are 40 OTT players. We hope more will join in. Our plan is to implement it from August as companies will take some time to prepare,” said Rakshit.

The first step is that a committee comprising company executives will hear the complaint and arrive at a decision. If the complainant is still not satisfied, they can go to an ombudsman forum which will have two company officials and two independent experts with veto power. If they are still not satisfied, they can move court or approach the government for redressal.

According to an Indian Express report, the reason this came up in the first place was because the issue was raised during the Zero Hour of Parliament session and Mahesh Poddar of the BJP said the content and language on OTT platforms was discriminatory and offensive.