Amid India's Got Latent controversy, Centre urges social media, OTT platforms to follow IT Rules

Amid Samay Raina-Ranveer Allahbadia's India's Got Latent controversy, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has urged social media channels and OTT platforms to follow the Code of Ethics prescribed under IT Rules, 2021, stressing the importance of self-regulation and access control for A-rated content to protect children from watching inappropriate content.

Ranveer Allahbadia Controversy Highlights

In a notification, the ministry said that it "received references from Hon’ble Members of Parliament, representations from statutory organisations and public grievances regarding alleged spread of obscene, pornographic and vulgar content published by certain publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms) and Social Media."

A major controversy erupted after popular podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia passed a comment on parents and sex on comedian Samay Raina's YouTube show “India's Got Latent”. Allahbadia made an inappropriate comment to a contestant, asking, "Would you rather watch your parents... or join in once and stop it forever?" Although he later issued an apology for his remark, the criticism continued and the YouTuber reportedly received death threats.

Coming back to the notification, the ministry said, “The Code of Ethics, inter-alia, requires OTT platforms not to transmit any content which is prohibited by law, undertake age-based classification of content, based on general guidelines provided in the Schedule to the Rules.”

Moreover, it also requested the self-regulatory bodies of OTT platforms to take appropriate proactive action when platforms violate their Code of Ethics.

SC asks Centre to act

The notification by the Centre also came after the Supreme Court on February 19 flagged the "vacuum" in law when it comes to sharing of content on platforms such as YouTube and said "all kinds of things were going on".

"All kinds of things are going on. These YouTubers and their shows… something has to be done about them and we will do it. We are not going to leave it like this. We have issued a notice (in Ranveer Allahbadia matter)...We would like to do something. We may not overlook the importance and sensitivity of the issue," Justice Surya Kant said.

"We would like to do something. If the Government of India will willingly do it, we will be very happy. Otherwise, we are not going to leave this vacuum," the bench told additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, who was appearing in a separate case.