The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a public interest plea seeking setting up of a regulatory board to monitor and manage over-the-top (OTT) and other streaming platforms in India.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said, “This is the problem of PILs. They are all on policy now and we miss our genuine PILs.”
The PIL petitioner advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha had stated that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued in 2021 the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, to self-regulate OTT platforms, however, the same has been inefficient.
These platforms – over-the-top and streaming platforms – operate without the same checks and balances that traditional media—like films and TV—are subject to, the petition had said.
The PIL petitioner Jha had said, “Unlike films shown in theatres, OTT content doesn’t go through a certification process before release, which has led to a rise in explicit scenes, violence, substance abuse, and other harmful content, often without proper warnings.”
The petitioner had sought to prevent the harm before it happens, and not after, by ensuring that there is a body to regulate the contents before it reaches the public, just like we have for movies and TV.
The OTT medium has become a tool to promote substances prohibited for advertisements viz gambling, liquor, drugs, smoking, etc. while using the loopholes, the petition had alleged.
In the absence of any law or autonomous body governing the digital content, the petition has said that the digital contents are made available to the public at large without any filter or screening by a statutory regulatory authority.
“OTT/streaming and different digital media platforms have surely given a way out for filmmakers and artists to release content without being worried about getting clearance certificates for films and series from censor board,” the petition had said.