Display age-based rating in ads: govt. to OTT platforms

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Recently, The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked OTT platforms to ensure display of age-based classification rating in the advertisements and other promotional material published by them on various media platforms.

OTT platforms are audio and video hosting and streaming services which started out as content hosting platforms
They soon branched out into the production and release of short movies, feature films, documentaries and web-series themselves.
Examples: Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime
These platforms offer a range of content and use artificial intelligence to suggest users the content they are likely to view based on their past viewership on the platform.
India is currently the world’s fastest growing OTT market and is all set to emerge as the world’s sixth largest by 2024.

The Indian government announced Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 to regulate the Over-the-top (OTT) service providers and digital content providers in India.
OTT platforms need to self-classify the content into five age-based categories
- U (Universal)
- U/A 7 years
- U/A 13 years
- U/A 16 years
- A (Adult)
The rules also lay down a soft-touch self-regulatory architecture with a Code of Ethics and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism for OTT platforms.
Every publisher should appoint a Grievance Officer based in India for receiving and redressing grievances in 15 days.
But there is currently no rule or authority in regulating pre-screen content on OTT platforms.
However, the government has the powers to issue directives to block certain information to be in public access, under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000.