Question : Impact of Web Series on Children and Youth

(a) the concrete steps taken by the Government to save children and youth from obscene entertainment being served in the name of web series these days;
(b) whether web series does not come under any regulation and taking advantage of this produce-director are serving objectionable web series on Over the Top (OTT) platforms fearlessly;
(c) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
(d) whether the Government is considering to make stringent law in this regard keeping in view the future of children and youth, if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to be enacted; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?

THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING; AND MINISTER OF YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS
(SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR):
(a) to (e): The Government has notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 under Information Technology Act, 2000, on 25th February, 2021. Part-III of these Rules inter- alia provide for the following:-

i. Code of Ethics to be followed by publishers of news & current affairs on digital media and publishers of online curated content (commonly known as OTT Platforms).
ii. A three-level Grievance Redressal Mechanism consisting of the publisher (Level-I), self-regulating body constituted by the publishers (Level-II) and an Oversight Mechanism of the Government (Level-III), with time bound grievance disposal mechanism.
iii. Furnishing of information by the publishers to the Government and periodic disclosure of information regarding grievance redressal in public domain.

The Codes require OTT players not to transmit any content which is prohibited by law and undertake age based self-classification of content, based on general guidelines provided in the Schedule, alongwith adequate safeguards for restricting age-inappropriate content for children with adequate access control measures.