Government Blocks 18 OTT Platforms For Pornographic, Vulgar Content

The Indian government blocked 18 OTT platforms for showing obscene and pornographic content on Thursday, despite multiple warnings. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shut down 19 websites, 10 applications, and 57 social media accounts.

Companies like Besharam, Hunters, Dream Films, MoodX, NeonX, ExtraMood, and others produced sexually explicit content.

Authorities blocked the platforms under Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986; Section 292 of the IPC; and Sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act, 2000.

A significant portion of the content hosted on these platforms was found to be obscene, vulgar, and to portray women in a demeaning manner. It depicted nudity and sexual acts in various inappropriate contexts, such as relationships between teachers and students, incestuous family relationships, etc. The content included sexual innuendos and, in some instances, prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes devoid of any thematic or societal relevance.

The statement from MIB said.

MIB stated that one of the apps had 10 million downloads, while the other two had over 5 million downloads each on the Google Play Store. Out of the 10 blocked apps, seven were on the Google Play Store, and three were on Apple’s App Store.

These platforms shared trailer-specific scenes and external links on their social media accounts, which had a following of over 3.2 million users. Authorities blocked 12 Facebook accounts, 17 Instagram accounts, 16 X accounts, and 12 YouTube accounts.

Due to obscenity, a self-regulatory board established under Part III of the IT Rules issued an unfavourable order against Ullu, a different streaming service not on the current list, in June 2023.

The chairperson of the grievance redressal board of the Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council, former Supreme Court judge AK Sikri, gave Ullu final instructions in June 2023. He directed Ullu to either remove the four web series that were the subject of complaints or edit them, “if even possible, to remove” the offending and objectionable scenes.

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