Netflix, Amazon Prime and other OTT apps to come under the scanner of Central Govt

Gazette notification issued

• Hindus expect that the Government, along with monitoring, should also cease the broadcasting of contents that depict Hindu Dharma, Deities and their sacred books in bad light!
• It should be noted that the Censor Board is responsible for the review of motion pictures; however, it is unfortunate for Hindus that the board fails to take action against the films portraying Hindu Dharma, Deities, etc. in a bad light ! The movie ‘Laxmi’ was previously named as ‘Laxmi Bomb’, while none of its scenes or context were related to ‘Bomb’. How did the Censor Board make this blunder? Centre should see to it that such blunders do not repeat while monitoring the OTT apps!

New Delhi – Central government has brought OTT apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Alt Balaji, ‘Zee 5’ as well as online news portals under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. A gazette notification regarding this has been issued by the President. This matter will now come under the direct purview of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry held by the Central Minister Prakash Javadekar.

(Source – NDTV)

A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court demanding all the OTT apps to be brought under the control of an autonomous institution. The Supreme Court had asked the Central govt. to respond while hearing this PIL. The Centre was then considering to bring the OTT apps and the online news portals under the scope of I&B ministry. Eventually, the gazette notification was issued regarding this matter. Now online media, online films, audio-visual content, news and content related to current affairs will have a vigil of I&B department. These media were unregulated till now.