{"id":229027,"date":"2023-02-27T20:40:11","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T15:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=229027"},"modified":"2023-02-27T20:40:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T15:10:11","slug":"towards-transparency-in-ott-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/towards-transparency-in-ott-regulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Towards transparency in OTT regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cTowards transparency in OTT regulation\u201d <\/strong>published in The Hindu <\/strong>on 27th February 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS3- Economy<\/p>\n

Relevance:<\/strong> Entertainment and broadcasting industry<\/p>\n

News-<\/strong> It has been two years since the government issued the Information Technology<\/p>\n

(Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules through which the Ministry of I&B was given the task of regulating content on OTT and online platforms.<\/p>\n

What is the regulatory approach followed by India in case of OTT platforms?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India\u2019s approach can be termed as a light touch \u2018co regulation\u2019 model<\/strong>. There is \u2018self regulation\u2019 <\/strong>at the industry level and final \u2018oversight mechanism\u2019 <\/strong>at the Ministry level.<\/p>\n

The Rules provide for a grievance redressal mechanism and a code of ethics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

They mandate access control mechanism<\/strong>s. It includes parental locks<\/strong> for content classified as U\/A 13+ or higher and a reliable age verification mechanism<\/strong> for programmes classified as \u2018A\u2019 (18+).<\/p>\n

The current Rules provide for the Inter \u00adDepartmental Committee as the final tier<\/strong>. It comprises officer nominees<\/strong> from various ministries of the Central government, and domain experts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It recommends the course of action on OTT content violations<\/strong>. The Secretary of the Ministry is competent to take the final decision.<\/p>\n

What are issues related to OTT regulations?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is little awareness<\/strong> about OTT rules among the general public. The Rules mandate the display of contact details relating to grievance redressal mechanisms<\/strong> and grievance officers on OTT websites\/interface. However, compliance is very low<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In many cases, either the complaint redressal information is not published or published in a manner that makes it difficult for a user to notice easily.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward for OTT regulations?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is a need for ensuring uniformity<\/strong> in the way OTT publishers display key information relating to their obligations, timelines for complaint redressal, contact details of grievance officers. The manner, text, language and frequency for display of vital information<\/strong> could be enshrined in the Rules.<\/p>\n

The OTT industry associations could be mandated to run periodic campaigns<\/strong> in print and electronic media about the grievance redressal mechanism.<\/p>\n

The interpretation of age rating and the content descriptors<\/strong> could be in the respective languages of the video.<\/p>\n

Further, age ratings and content descriptors could be shown prominently in full\u00adscreen mode for a mandatory minimum duration<\/strong> instead of a few seconds. Such a rule exists for films under the Cinematograph Act<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There is a need for clear guidelines<\/strong> to ensure that a film\u2019s classification and rating is shown\u00a0 prominently and legibly<\/strong> in advertisements and promos of OTT content.<\/p>\n

A periodic audit<\/strong> of the actual existence and efficacy<\/strong> of age verification mechanisms and the display of grievance redressal details by each OTT platform may be undertaken by an independent body.<\/p>\n

The full description of complaints received by OTT providers and self regulatory bodies and decisions given by them may be published in the public domain<\/strong>. Now, the reporting formats <\/strong>only capture the number of complaints received and decided<\/p>\n

The Ministry could consider facilitating a dedicated umbrella website<\/strong> for publishing the details of applicable Rules, content codes, advisories, contact details for complaints and appeals.<\/p>\n

There is a need for establishing a statutory body for regulating broadcast content<\/strong>. The Inter \u00adDepartmental Committee Membership may be made more broad based and representative till the constitution of such body.<\/p>\n

There is no provision for disclosure or publication of an apology<\/strong> and warning on the platform or website. This may be incorporated in the Rules. Financial penalties<\/strong> on erring entities may also be provided.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s OTT regulatory model should be efficacious combination of self regulation and legal backing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cTowards transparency in OTT regulation\u201d published in The Hindu on 27th February 2023. Syllabus: GS3- Economy Relevance: Entertainment and broadcasting industry News- It has been two years since the government issued the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules through which the Ministry of… Continue reading Towards transparency in OTT regulation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10498],"class_list":["post-229027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}