Centre Blocks 18 OTT Platforms For Obscene, Vulgar Content - Check Full List

The Centre on Thursday said that it has blocked 18 OTT platforms for obscene and vulgar content, 19 websites and 10 apps along with 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms.

"The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) has taken action in coordination with various intermediaries, to block 18 OTT platforms publishing obscene, vulgar, and, in some instances, pornographic content. 19 websites, 10 apps (7 on Google Play Store, 3 on Apple App Store), and 57 social media accounts associated with these platforms have been disabled for public access in India," a statement from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Ministry said.

"A significant portion of the content hosted on these platforms was found to be obscene, vulgar, and portrayed women in a demeaning manner. It depicted nudity and sexual acts in various inappropriate contexts, such as relationships between teachers and students, incestuous family relationships, etc. The content included sexual innuendos and, in some instances, prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes devoid of any thematic or societal relevance," the ministry said.

The content was determined to be prima facie in violation of Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.

The content was found to breach Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.

Huge Viewership

As per the press release, one of the OTT apps garnered over 1 crore downloads, while two others reached more than 5 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Furthermore, these OTT platforms heavily utilized social media platforms to share trailers, specific scenes, and external links in order to draw audiences to their websites and apps. Collectively, the social media accounts of these OTT platforms had over 32 lakh followers.