The Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) has today officially announced the ban of 18 OTT platforms for streaming obscene, vulgar content, and in some instances pornographic content. These platforms received multiple warnings from Union Minister Anurag Thakur and since there was no change in the content, this decision has been taken.
Not only this, these OTT platforms utilized social media to disseminate trailers, specific scenes, and external links aimed at attracting audiences to their websites and apps. Hence, the government has also disabled 19 websites, 10 apps (7 on the Google Play store and 3 on the Apple Play store), and 57 social media accounts associated with these OTT platforms.
18 OTT platforms that are banned
- Dreams Films
- Neon X VIP
- MoodX
- Voovi
- Besharams
- MojFlix
- Yessma
- Hunters
- Hot Shots VIP
- Uncut Adda
- Rabbit
- Fugi
- Tri Flicks
- Xtramood
- Chikooflix
- X Prime
- Nuefliks
- Prime Play
As per the statement released by the government, “The recent decision was taken under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in consultation with other Ministries/Departments of the Government of India and domain experts specializing in media and entertainment, women’s rights and child rights.”
It also stated that the content shown on these platforms was determined to be prima facie in violation of Section 67 & 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
