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Mumbai: On Thursday, the government said that Ministry of I&B blocked 18 OTT platforms after multiple warnings; 19 websites, 10 apps, 57 social media handles of OTT platforms blocked nationwide for obscene and vulgar content. Some of the apps are also banned for ‘pornographic’ content.
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting wrote about the update via a release, “The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) has taken action in coordination with various intermediaries, to block 18 OTT platforms publishing obscene, vulgar, and, in some instances, pornographic content. 19 websites, 10 apps (7 on Google Play Store, 3 on Apple App Store), and 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms have been disabled for public access in India.”
This recent decision was made under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the release stated. The content on the above mentioned platforms violated Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Woman (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
The Ministry also mentioned in a statement, “One of the OTT apps amassed more than 1 crore downloads, while two others had over 50 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store.” It also added, “Additionally, 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 social media accounts of the concerned OTT platforms had a cumulative followership of over 32 lakh users.”
