The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Thursday, March 14, blocked 18 OTT platforms for publishing obscene, vulgar, and, in some instances, pornographic content despite repeated warnings from Union Minister Anurag Thakur. Furthermore, 19 websites, 10 apps (7 on Google Play Store, 3 on Apple App Store), and 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms have also been disabled for public access by the Indian government. This latest decision by the Centre to block the OTT platforms was taken after the content was determined to be prima facie in violation of Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
The I&B Ministry issued a press release explaining the reason for blocking the OTT platforms noting, "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."
Addressing the scale of the viewership, the Centre noted that one of these OTT apps had amassed more than 1 crore downloads, while two others had over 50 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store. The government has also informed that this latest decision has been taken under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in consultation with other Ministries/Departments of the Government of India, and domain experts specializing in media and entertainment, women's rights, and child rights. The Union government has also blocked access to 12 Facebook accounts, 17 Instagram accounts, 16 X (formerly Twitter) accounts and 12 YouTube accounts as they had a cumulative followership of over 32 lakh users.
Below is the list of the 18 apps blocked by the I&B Ministry:
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
.@MIB_India takes action against Obscene Content on OTT Platforms
— PIB India (@PIB_India) March 14, 2024
➡️18 OTT platforms blocked for obscene and vulgar content after multiple warnings from Union Minister @ianuragthakur
➡️19 Websites, 10 Apps, 57 Social Media Handles of #OTT platforms blocked nationwide
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