SC tells Centre to frame stricter OTT regulations

NEW DELHI: A day after it sought “screening” of content on over the top (OTT) platforms, commenting that some even air pornography, the Supreme Court on Friday said that the central government’s recently notified redressal and regulatory mechanism for such companies “do not have teeth” and asked them to consider a legislation that could also provide for “prosecution”.

The court, while hearing a pre-arrest bail plea by Amazon Prime’s content chief Aparna Purohit (which it eventually granted) in connection with the ongoing investigation in Uttar Pradesh against the web series Tandav, used the words “screening,” “regulation” and “legislation” with reference to the content, leading to fears that it could mean not just the certification and grievance redressal envisaged in the government regulations, but even censorship.

“These rules do not have any teeth. They do not have any provision for prosecution etc. These are just some guidelines. This is no satisfactory mechanism,” commented a bench of justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy after going through the new rules that were notified on February 25.

The bench was emphatic in telling solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the government: “Without legislation, you cannot control it (content on OTT platforms). Your rules are only in the nature of guidelines. There are no effective guidelines on screening or taking action against those who do not comply with the guidelines.”