New Delhi: Over The Top (OTT) platforms operating in India must “reflect the collective conscience of the country” and provide a “healthy viewing experience to people of all age groups”, Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said on Tuesday at a meeting with representatives of major OTT platforms, including Netflix, Amazon, Discovery, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon and Alt Balaji, among others.

The meeting, convened by the government to arrive at a better “understanding” of the rapidly-growing streaming industry, also discussed at length content on the streaming platforms that “demeans Indian culture” or is “increasingly vulgar”.

Sources said representatives of OTT platforms, who have been votaries of “creative freedom”, told the minister that several systems to filter and classify content in accordance with the government’s guidelines are already in place, and considerable improvement has been seen in the past three years. 

Since 2021, OTT platforms have been providing age-related classifications as a part of mandatory Code of Ethics for online curated content. Content classification also identifies content on the basis of the themes, violence, nudity, substance abuse and horror, along with an advisory for viewers’ discretion. 

Though the rules also require consideration of India’s multi-racial and multi-religious context and exercising of “due caution and discretion” when featuring the beliefs and practices of any racial or religious group, streaming platforms have often run foul of one or the other mandates.

In this regard, Thakur told OTT players that the government will not allow “demeaning of Indian culture and society in the name of creative freedom” and that they should not use their platforms as tools of “vicious propaganda and ideological biases”.

He also announced institution of the ‘best web series award’ at IFFI from this year.