In a recent move, the Indian government has taken a firm stance against streaming platforms promoting “obscene” content. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has blocked 18 streaming platforms, 19 websites, 10 apps (7 on Google Play Store, 3 on Apple App Store), and a whopping 57 social media accounts. The reason behind this rational action is that the content hosted on these platforms was deemed to be “obscene, vulgar and in some instances, pornographic”.
The blocked platforms, named Dreams Films, Voovi, Yessma, Uncut Adda, Tri Flicks, X Prime, Neon X VIP, Besharams, Hunters, Rabbit, Xtramood, Nuefliks, MoodX, Mojflix, Hot Shots VIP, Fugi, Chikooflix, Prime Play, were banned for featuring content that MIB recognizes as explicit or inappropriate, content including nudity, sexual acts in unusual contexts, and prolonged scenes not having social or thematic relevance.
“A significant portion of the content hosted on these platforms was found to be obscene, vulgar, and portrayed women in a demeaning manner. It depicted nudity and sexual acts in various inappropriate contexts, such as relationships between teachers and students, incestuous family relationships, etc. The content included sexual innuendos and, in some instances, prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes devoid of any thematic or societal relevance,” MIB stated.
The government justified this action by citing existing laws like Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition), the Indian Penal Code, and the Information Technology Act. These laws give power to the authorities to regulate content deemed obscene, vulgar, or detrimental to public morality.
This isn’t the first instance of the Indian government addressing “obscenity” on streaming platforms, In June 2023, a self-regulatory board that was established under the Information Technology Rules found another streaming app, Ullu, guilty of obscenity. In this situation, four specific web series from the series raised the issue. The grievance redressal board, led by former Supreme Court Judge AK Sikri, instructed Ullu to remove the said content or edit it to eliminate objectionable scenes.
Justice Sikru’s order highlighted a key point: freedom of speech and expression, as mentioned in India’s constitution is not absolute. It can be restricted in the interest of public order, decency, and morality. He also mentioned that the content in question did not resonate with any social message and seemed focused solely on depicting sex and nudity.
Earlier, in 2015 the government also ordered the ban of 857 websites with pornographic material.
The action taken by the government is noteworthy, it encompassed not just streaming platforms themselves but also their associated apps on both Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Also, in this action, social media profiles associated with these platforms which were used to share trailers, scenes, and external links were blocked by the government. This shows the government’s determination to curb access to the targeted audience. Among the blocked platforms, on OTT app boasted an impressive download count exceeding 1 crore on the Google Play Store. Two others weren’t far behind, each surpassing 50 lakh downloads.
