Facing pressure from Google, NCPCR, Ullu drops adult content
Pressure has been mounting on the adult streaming platform Ullu on its content, with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) asking the government to act against the firm. Separately, the Digital Publisher Content Grievance Council (DPCGC) has issued a rebuke of the streaming service’s catalogue. The DPCGC is a streaming selfregulatory body, and Ullu is a member.
Under notice from Google, the Android version of the app has been cleansed of much of the content it has built its business on. Google’s action was revealed to the NCPCR in a reply obtained by The Hindu.
As streaming platforms find their content increasingly restricted against political and religious themes — often due to selfimposed restraint — the government has set its sights on smaller players who put out mature content intended for adults. Eighteen such sites and apps were blocked earlier this month for “obscene and vulgar content”.
These sites include “Hot Shots VIP[,] Mojflix, Mood◣, and Uncut Adda”. While there is no explicit ban on pornography in India, many international websites offering such content have been ordered offline by the Uttarakhand
The Ullu app has been cleansed of much of the content it has built its business on.
High Court, in a suo motu 2018 judgment that the government and Internet providers continue to comply with.
The DPCGC was established under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and
Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
From all the appeals that DPCGC’s grievance redressal board has heard and issued orders on, only one outcome has been published on its website — a June 2023 order against Ullu finding the firm had a “solitary aim” to “depict sexual contents,” and to take down some content that fit this description. The board is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Sikri (retd).
Ullu CEO Vibhu Agarwal did not respond to a message seeking comment. Last year, though, the firm defended itself to the DPCGC saying that it “offers a wide variety of genres from drama, horror, suspense, thriller to comedy and beyond which targets audience[s] above eighteen years of age,” and that it has safeguards to prevent minors from viewing its content, according to Justice Sikri’s summary of arguments by Priyannka Chaurasiya, a lawyer for the firm.
Google told the NCPCR that it found no inappropriate content featuring children on Ullu, indicating that the commission’s concern was around such content being accessible to minors, and not featuring them. The IT Rules have mandatory provisions for streaming services to provide agerestricting features for mature content, and most streaming providers are in compliance with this requirement.
An advisory by Justice Sikri in December 2023 to streaming services, previously unreported, “strongly advises the platforms to undertake suitable measures to ensure that all the content on their respective platforms must comply with the test of obscenity and pornography as enumerated under the various laws of the land.” The advisory does not name Ullu.
Ullu had set itself apart from rival adult streaming outfits by abstaining from depicting graphic nudity or other acts that could trigger immediate backlash from authorities.