What Are The Regulatory Rules Monitoring the OTT Contents in India?

Digital media platforms in India have been unregulated, having no specific regulatory framework. A well-defined regulation is the need of the hour because the OTT landscape is getting hyper-competitive.

Over-the-top platforms, popularly abbreviated as OTT platform is gaining wide popularity to enjoy a reign in India in terms of new trends of content.

Why is it necessary to regulate OTT contents?

The new digital media has introduced freedom in content creation, implementing new thoughts and themes, that definitely increased the content consumption of the Indian audience, but it is highly unregulated. The main reason for this is the absence of a specific law for regulating the content and broadcasting of the OTT platforms.

Unlimited freedom has certain negative impacts too - a considerable number of both Indian and foreign OTT contents, mainly web series, that involve activities of obscenity, defamation, hurting of religious sentiments, etc.

What are the legal provisions required to regulate the OTT contents?

The Ministry of Information and Broadcast (MIB) has in the past years emphasized some form of regulating the OTT platforms, for streamlining the sector and held a consultation with several stakeholders.

With this, the Ministry has notified the Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 (Rules) to set up a robust three-tier grievance redressal mechanism, which shall constitute:

• First level comprising of regulation by the OTT Platform itself through a grievance officer.

• The second level comprising of an institutional self-regulatory body formed by publishers of content and their associations. This self-regulatory body will comprise industry experts headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge, High Court judge, or eminent personality in the relevant field.

• The third level comprising of an inter-department committee constituted by the MIB that will provide oversight and hear appeals for decisions taken at level two or if a complaint is referred to the inter-department committee by the Ministry.

The ethic code introduced under the Rules to set out the guidelines for the content classification based on certain factors like - viewer's age, themes, content, tone and impact. The target audience also requires to be classified to maintain sovereignty, security, and secular environment in India.

The contents can be classified based on age in the following categories:

• Category 'U' is suitable for all the ages

• Category U/A 7+ is suitable for those aged 7 years and above

• Category U/A 13+ is suitable for those aged 13 years and above

• Category U/A 16+ is suitable for those aged 16 years and above

• Category 'A' is restricted to adults.

The categorization already existed under the provision of the Cinematograph Act 1952 in a similar manner, which has been extended to the OTT platforms as well. However, classification of content based on subjective yardsticks has a high probability to be a challenge given such classification, but in practice, that can be eased based on the sensibilities of personnel of each OTT platform.

The mechanism established by the MIB will act as an appellate body for all decisions from the second level and allow the central government to exercise some control on the programming of platforms. While the rules do seek to maintain a balance between self-regulation and government control, two key provisions are tilting the balance in favour of government oversight: first, registration of the self-regulatory body is subject to MIB's satisfaction; and second, the inter-department committee at level three may hear complaints referred to it by the MIB, thus skipping the first two levels of self-regulation.

What are the challenges to be faced in regulating the OTT content?

The upfront content rating is going to encourage the viewers to make informed choices. The rule does not specify any grounds on which the complaints can be brought, rather it depends on the subjective nature of the content and the responsiveness of the viewers. However, the challenge for OTT Platforms will be to balance grievances from different viewers with varied social sensibilities and the demand for different types of content on their "on-demand" service models from a wide audience base.

It is necessary that the government implements the rules in a poignant manner allowing sufficient independence to the OTT platforms. In past, the contents may be created and broadcasted irrespective of the classifications or rating mechanisms or takedowns due to grievances, which was added on by waiving off the territorial division in the digital era, and demand for foreign contents, it made it necessary to implement the restrictive regime.

Meanwhile dealing with all the above-mentioned issues, another threat that has surged is content piracy.

The easy availability of OTT contents has opened new paths for video piracy and copyright infringement.

High demand for the free content (web series and movies) pushed to an abundance of lanes for the viewers to access the pirated version, which is originally the intellectual property of another OTT media service.

Moreover, the infringer who committed the offence is not easily traceable. The illegal distribution is easy and involves no or minimal cost, which involves more individuals getting into the circle. It is difficult to point out each and every one who has the access to the pirated content.

While the new rules appear to be able to manage the issues arising regarding the content, it will also empower viewers to make more informed choices, and create a level playing field for various mediums. At this juncture, the rules appear to be a speed breaker in the fast-paced OTT industry.

However, in the digital era, as the distribution of content evolves, the regulatory framework for the digital industry will also continue to evolvemaking it necessary to introduce and implement regulations monitoring the content and its broadcasting.