Govt blocks 18 OTT platforms for obscene and vulgar content

Information and Broadcasting Ministry has blocked 18 Over the top, OTT platforms for obscene and vulgar content. This include Dreams Films, Hunters, Hot Shots VIP, Prime Play and Uncut Adda. Nineteen websites, ten apps and 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms have been disabled for public access in India. The decision was taken under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in consultation with other Ministries and domain experts specializing in media and entertainment, women’s rights, and child rights.In its statement, the government said a major chunk of the content on the platforms 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 statement said.
The Ministry said, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur has repeatedly emphasized the responsibility of the platforms to not propagate obscenity, vulgarity and abuse under the guise of creative expression. It said, a significant portion of the content hosted on these platforms was found to be obscene, vulgar, and portrayed women in a demeaning manner.
The OTT platforms that have been blocked are 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.The government said one of the OTT apps had more than 1 crore downloads, while two others had over 50 lakh downloads. Moreover, the social media accounts of the OTT platforms had a cumulative followership of over 32 lakh users."These OTT platforms extensively utilised social media to disseminate trailers, specific scenes, and external links aimed at attracting audiences to their websites and apps," the government said.