India will not tolerate offensive and obscene content on streaming services, minister warns

India will not tolerate the use of offensive language in films and TV shows via video-on-demand streaming services, a senior minister warned in a lawsuit illustrating how the country’s IT rules “cede direct ministerial powers to censorship “. » .

Anurag Thakur, Minister of Broadcasting Information and Sports and Youth Affairs, told a press conference that the use of offensive language in the name of creativity will not be tolerated and that the government is receiving a growing list of complaints about the increase in offensive and obscene content. .

Thakur warned New Delhi would not hesitate to make “changes” to the rules to deal with this situation.

“If it becomes necessary to change the rules in this area, the ministry is ready to analyze it. These platforms were given freedom for creativity, not profanity. Regardless of the necessary measures to be taken in this regard, the government will not back down,” he said at the conference, a transcript of which has already been published on the government website.

Thakur added: “The process so far is for the producer to resolve first level complaints. 90 to 92% of complaints are resolved with the necessary adjustments. The next level of complaint handling is at your membership level, where most complaints are resolved. At the last level, we reach the government level, where at the level of the departmental committees, action is taken in accordance with the applicable regulations. But somewhere the complaints have risen sharply in recent days and the department is taking it very seriously. If a change is needed, we are ready to seriously consider it.”

The minister’s comments are the latest headache for Amazon and Netflix in India, which have been criticized for choosing content they approve of in the South Asian market. In 2021, Amazon apologized to users in India for an original political drama series over allegations that some scenes in the nine-part miniseries hurt some people’s religious feelings.

“We respect the different beliefs of our viewers and offer our unreserved apologies to anyone who was hurt by these scenes. Our teams monitor the company’s content rating processes, which we understand need constant updating to better serve our audience. We will continue to develop fun content with partners while complying with Indian laws and respecting our audience’s diverse cultures and beliefs,” Amazon said at the time.