Central government issued guidelines for OTT platform and social media, said – there should not be double standards

The central government has released guidelines for OTT platforms such as Netflix-Amazon, including social media companies. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar held a press conference in this regard on Thursday. Ravi Shankar Prasad said during this time that foul language is being used on social media but now the government will not approve objectionable content. According to the new guidelines, now on the complaint of any objectionable content, the social media platform will have to remove it.

At the same time, digital media also has to adopt the system of self-regulation like electronic media. The guidelines issued for social media will be implemented in three months. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that every social media platform in India is welcome, but it should not have double standards. He said, ‘Social media supports police action if there is an attack on Capitol Hill, but when there is an aggression attack on the Red Fort, you have double standards. This is not acceptable.
Under the new guidelines, it has been made mandatory for the companies concerned to appoint a complaint officer, disclose the first person to initiate mischievous information and remove such material as pornographic and tampering of photographs of women within 24 hours. Announcing the new guidelines, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that concerns have been expressed about the frequent misuse of social media platforms and the spread of fake news and that the government is introducing ‘soft touch’ regulation.

According to the new rules, social media companies will have to appoint a complaint officer who will file a complaint within 24 hours. The Grievance Redressal Officer must be domiciled in India and the social media forums must file compliance reports monthly. Also, at the behest of the government or the court, social media forums have to disclose the first person to initiate mischievous information. Prakash Javadekar told about OTT and digital platforms that now they will also have to give information about their work. The Union Minister said that there will be a self-regulation body for OTT and digital platforms, headed by retired judges of the Supreme Court or High Court or some other big figure. Javadekar said that there should be a distribution of 13+, 16+ and ‘A’ categories regarding content on OTT. He said that there should be ways that parental lock can be applied to the content and children should not see it. Javadekar also said that the government does not know how many digital news platforms are there in the country. That is why the government is asking for basic information about the platform.