Parliamentary panel takes a stand against obscene content and vulgar language on OTT platforms.

The panel has sought the details about the revenue generated by the OTT platforms from India and the amount invested back into the country.

Even though the advent of OTT platforms have given freedom of sorts to the film makers, who were bound by the stringent rules, it has been observed that a few OTT platforms seemed to have taken this to their advantage. With the increase in the total number of OTT platforms, one also saw the language used in a few shows as well as the kind of content which were streaming on certain OTT platforms really required immediate attention.

As per a source based news report in The Economic Times, many members of a parliamentary panel spoke to the executives from different OTT platforms. These platforms included Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney + Hotstar. The members of the parliamentary panel told the OTT platforms’ executives ‘to respect the cultural sensitivities of the country and restrain from showing obscenity on their platforms’. Apurva Chandra, who happens to be the Secretary in the I & B Ministry (Information and Broadcasting Ministry) also had attended the meeting along with other officials.

The said report stated that many members had told the executives of OTT platforms to restrain from using abusive language and obscenity in the content. The said meeting also saw the discussion of whether the OTT platforms should be brought under Cinematograph Act’s ambit. Many of the topmost executives from the said streaming companies had deposed before the panel, which was chaired by Prataprao Jadhav (Shiv Sena MP). Besides him, the panel also had actor Shatrughan Sinha, who is also TMC (Trinamool Congress leader). Besides these two personalities, there were other known names as well who were there on the panel. Karti Chidambaram (Congress MP) told that the piracy issue needs to be dealt with stringently.

The said panel had also reportedly sought the details about the revenue which was generated by these platforms from India and also what was the amount which was invested back into the country. The OTT platforms are expected to give written replies to the panel on these questions at the earliest.

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