February 21, 2025 - The Central government yesterday issued guidelines for OTT platforms to follow a code of conduct. This was following a directive issued to the Centre by the Supreme Court to curtail vulgar and obscene material on YouTube/OTT platforms.

The Supreme Court made this observation while hearing a plea filed by YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia seeking protection from arrests after a backlash following his controversial episode on India’s Got Latent show.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an advisory to self-regulatory bodies of online curated content publishers and OTT platforms suggested regulating digital content to curb obscene material.

The advisory said the government has received "references" from MPs, "representations" from statutory organisations and "public grievances" regarding the "spread of obscene, pornographic and vulgar content" on online curated content (OTT platforms) and social media.

"In view of the above it is advised that the OTT platforms adhere to the various provisions of applicable laws, and the Code of Ethics prescribed under IT Rules, 2021 while publishing content on their platforms, including stricter adherence to the age-based classification of content prescribed under the Code of Ethics,” the Ministry said.

With Media Inputs