REGULATING OTT CONTENT WITH RATINGS

Trade experts, filmmakers and actors share their views on calls for OTT regulation and government notifying rules to mandate content classification on online platforms

With the government announcing a code of ethics for the OTT platforms and making it mandatory to self-classify the content into five age-based categories, the discussion around regulation of web content has once again gained steam.

“The guidelines show that the government is focusing more on self regulatory control. They’re just trying to monitor the content which is coming on OTT platforms. What exact steps and protocols they plan for this should be clear soon. I hope none of them curb creativity and freedom of speech is maintained,” says trade expert Girish Johar.

As per new rules, web platforms will have to self-classify the content into five age-based categories – U (universal), U/A 7+, U/A

13+, U/A 16+, and A (adult). Grievance redressal system has also been made mandatory.

For Abhimanyu Singh, creator of State of Siege: 26/11, rating system is a good thing to have happened. “It becomes simpler for parents to decide what the children should be watching and what they shouldn’t. I always felt that some kind of guidelines was needed. It’ll even help makers decide what kind of content they want to make,” Singh tells us.

According to actor Maanvi Gagroo, misogynistic, caste insensitive and gender regressive content needs to be put under the scanner. “Freedom of speech and expression for any creative work is important and as long as the regulations remain within the purview of the current laws and don’t become vague and/or propaganda driven, I think we’re fine,” she says.

Earlier this year, 17 prominent OTT players of the country had adopted a toolkit based on the Universal Self-Regulation Code. However, a recent survey by LocalCircles, involving 50,000 OTT users revealed that 78% respondents wanted more information on OTT code of regulation and had little understanding about it.

The report also pointed that the users were leaning towards the rating system along with content type – an idea that filmmaker Hansal Mehta also approves of. “One can rate the content to inform the audience whether it has nudity, sex, drug use or violence,” says Mehta, adding, “I don’t understand the word ‘code of conduct’. Are we in school where they tell one how to behave? One can put out self regulation guidelines, which people can follow.”

As per trade expert Joginder Tuteja, OTT as a medium should be left untouched. “It has to be left to the makers. Let the makers have that kind of credibility, the thought process, and the need to have the due diligence to do what they have to do,” he says.

Actor Namit Das, who is frequent with his OTT outings, feels the platform gained prominence because there were “no regulations”. “Having said that, I think now we’ve come to a stage where it is full blown. Now, all creators need to have some sort of a responsibility whenever they’re putting out something on any platform because we’re going through a very sensitive time, and anything that’s wrongly placed can hurt the sentiments,” says Das, who admits that sooner or later, regulations are bound to cover the OTT space.