Salman Khan’s Comments Stir Debate On OTT Censorship Issue

Amid the ongoing debate about the content on OTT platforms and the need for censoring them, actor Salman Khan expressed his displeasure towards the vulgarity on these platforms and requested film makers to avoid use of abusive language in their content.

“I really think there should be censorship in the medium (OTT). All these vulgarity, nudity, swearing should stop. Kids as young as 15 or 16 years old can watch them. Would you like it if your young daughter watches it? I just think the content on OTT should be checked,” the actor was quoted as saying in various reports.

The Bollywood superstar said that cleaner content will have a wider audience, and asked why OTT platforms should not be censored when films and TV channels are.

The actor’s comments come at a time when the government has also been asking these platforms to clamp down on obscenity. Recently, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur warned OTT platforms that vulgarity and abusive language are not acceptable in the name of creativity.

The minister said that the government will not hesitate to take tough action to stop the use of abusive language and vulgarity in the content on OTT platforms.

“These platforms were given freedom for creativity and not for obscenity and when one crosses the limit, then hurling abuses in the name of creativity cannot be accepted at all,” Thakur said.

He added that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will also not hesitate to change the rules for this.

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provide for a Code of Ethics to be followed by the publishers of online curated content.

Currently, there is a three-stage mechanism to deal with the content on OTT platforms.

The first level of the mechanism demands producers to address content related complaints. At the second level, the complaints go to their associations. Finally, the ministry takes action in accordance with the rules when a complaint reaches the government.

In February, Thakur informed the Rajya Sabha that the I&B Ministry had redressed 265 grievances against OTT content under the IT rules, 2021.

India’s OTT market is dominated by international players such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar. Besides, there are also a large number of domestic players in the space like Zee5, MX Player, Voot, among others. Many of these players have seen their shows and movies getting caught up in controversies in the past. For instance, Prime Video’s Tandav caused a furore for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and the platform had to issue an apology.

According to a report by RBSA Advisors, India’s video OTT market is expected to reach a size of $12.5 Bn by 2030 from about $1.5 Bn in 2021.