The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has acted against 18 over-the-top (OTT) platforms for “publishing obscene, vulgar, and, in some instances, pornographic content.” 19 websites, 10 apps, and 57 social media accounts that are associated with these platforms have been disabled for public access, according to a release by the Press Information Bureau.
Out of the 10 apps, 7 are on the Google Play Store, and 3 are on the Apple App Store. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Anurag Singh Thakur announced on March 12 that “18 OTT platforms publishing obscene and vulgar content have been taken down." The release says that Thakur has highlighted the responsibility of the platforms to not propagate obscenity, vulgarity, and abuse under the name of 'creative expression', as per the release.
The OTT platforms that are removed include Dreams Films, Voovi, Yessma, Uncut Adda, Tri Flicks, X Prime, Neon X VIP, Besharams, Hunters, Rabbit, Xtramood, Nuefliks, MoodX, Mojflix, Hot Shots VIP, Fugim Chikooflix, and Prime Play.
The majority of the content found on these platforms was found to be obscene and vulgar, and they portrayed women in a demeaning manner. “The content was determined to be prima facie in violation of Sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986,” says the PIB release.
Interestingly, out of the 18 OTTS banned, one of them had more than 1 crore downloads. Simultaneously, the other two had more than 50 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store. The platforms were also using various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter (formerly known as X), to promote their content. These social media accounts had an overall viewership of more than 32 lakh users.
