Indian Government Bans 18 OTT Platforms For Obscene And Pornographic Content

Despite repeated warnings, the authorities on Thursday banned 18 OTT platforms for hosting pornographic and offensive content. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) said in a statement that nineteen websites, ten applications (seven on the Google Play Store and three on the Apple App Store), and fifty-seven social media profiles linked to these platforms have also been disabled.

The development occurs in spite of warnings to the platforms not to use the pretense of “creative expression” to encourage abuse, vulgarity, or obscenity. The Information Technology Act of 2000’s provisions were followed in making this determination.

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, and Prime Play are the OTT platforms that have been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The government released a statement in which it said that a major chunk of content on these OTT platforms showed woman in a demeaning way.

“It depicted nudity and sexual acts in various inappropriate contexts, such as relationships between teachers and students, incestuous family relationships, etc,” the statement said.

“The content included sexual innuendos and, in some instances, prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes devoid of any thematic or societal relevance,” the statement added.

According to the government, two of the OTT apps had over 50 lakh downloads, and one app had over one crore downloads. Furthermore, the OTT services’ social media profiles collectively have over 32 lakh followers.

The government said, “These OTT platforms extensively utilised social media to disseminate trailers, specific scenes, and external links aimed at attracting audiences to their websites and apps.”

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