Centre's Advisory To OTT Platforms Amid 'India's Got Latent' Controversy

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory to OTT platforms urging stricter age-based classification of content and compliance with the Information Technology (IT) Rules 2021.
The advisory comes close on the heels of a row over an episode of the YouTube show 'India's Got Latent' by Samay Raina, featuring podcaster and influencer, Ranveer Allahbadia, who made an "inappropriate" comment during his guest appearance.

Centre's Advisory To OTT Platforms Amid 'India's Got Latent' Controversy

Centre's Advisory To OTT Platforms:

The advisory outlined six key points aimed at online content publishers and self-regulatory bodies of OTT platforms, emphasizing adherence to existing laws and ethical guidelines.
"This ministry has received references from Hon'ble Members of Parliament, representations from statutory organizations, and public grievances regarding the alleged spread of obscene, pornographic, and vulgar content published by certain publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms) and Social Media," the ministry said in its advisory.

"In this regard, it is stated that Part-IIl of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media, Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, interalia, provide for a Code of Ethics for OTT platforms, and a three-level institutional mechanism for redressal of grievances relating to violation of the Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics, inter-alia, requires OTT platforms not to transmit any content that is prohibited by law, undertake age-based classification of content, based on general guidelines provided in the Schedule to the Rules, implement of access control mechanism for ‘A' rated content to restrict access to such content by a child, and also exercise due caution and discretion," it added.

After the controversy broke, host Samay Raina deleted all episodes of 'India's Got Latent' from his YouTube channel.

About the Controversy:

The ‘India's Got Latent' show got embroiled in controversy over comments made by podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia in the episode that Apoorva Mukhija also appeared in.

Following a massive backlash, a formal complaint was filed against Ranveer Allahbadia, Mukhija, Samay Raina, and the organizers of 'India's Got Latent.

Samay Raina's Statement:

Samay later took to his Instagram Stories to share a statement, stating that he had removed all videos of the show from his channel and was "fully cooperating" with the authorities. He also added that his only intention was to entertain people.

"Everything that has been happening has been too much for me to handle. I have removed all India's Got Latent videos from my channel. My only objective was to make people laugh and have a good time. I will fully cooperate with all agencies to ensure their inquiries are concluded fairly. Thank you," Samay wrote on his Instagram Story.