Salman Khan, a Bollywood actor, has stirred up a debate about the need for censorship on over-the-top (OTT) platforms due to the vulgarity and nudity present in the content. The actor expressed his concern about young children accessing such content on these platforms, requesting filmmakers to avoid the use of abusive language in their content. The Indian government has been requesting OTT platforms to clamp down on obscenity, and recently Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur warned OTT platforms that the use of abusive language and vulgarity is not acceptable in the name of creativity. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provide for a Code of Ethics to be followed by the publishers of online curated content. Currently, there is a three-stage mechanism to deal with the content on OTT platforms.
The Indian OTT market has seen a surge in popularity in recent years, with both international and domestic players vying for a share of the market. However, as the industry has grown, there have been instances where content has been deemed controversial and has faced backlash from various groups, leading to calls for stricter censorship and regulation. Some of the key domestic OTT players in India include Zee5, MX Player, and Voot, while international players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+Hotstar have also made significant inroads into the Indian market.