Javadekar said that he has held several meetings with companies in the last few months.
The government has made it clear that there will be no representation or appointment from the government in the self-regulation unit proposed by the government regarding the OTT platform. This was stated by Information Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar in a meeting with representatives of the OTT platform on Thursday. In fact, in recent days the guidelines issued by the government for social media, including news portals and OTT, were directed to create a self-regulatory mechanism for all. After which there was a discussion that the government could appoint a member for this self-regulatory mechanism. The meeting included representatives from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hot Star, G5, Vaikom18, Jio, Shemaroo, ALT Balaji, Max Player etc.
During this, Javadekar said that the government has not only held several rounds of discussion with the OTT players in the last few months, but also stressed the need for a self-regulatory mechanism. Javadekar said that he has been told many times towards the cinema and TV industry that there are rules for him, while there are no rules-guidelines for OTT. After this, the government felt that there should be a self-regulatory mechanism for OTT under the level playing field for all. After which the government brought guidelines. In this meeting, where the minister explained to the OTT players the specifics of the guidelines, he said that there would be no need for any kind of registration with the government. The government will soon prepare a draft in this regard. The minister said that the intention of the government is to insist on categorizing the players on their behalf rather than some kind of censorship for the content of OTT.
He hoped that soon the OTT platform would create an effective grievance redressal mechanism. At the same time, the government told the industry that under the new rules, the inter-departmental committee that has been asked to be created by the government, will also be made soon. In fact, this committee will deal with complaints, disputes that remain unresolved within the self-regulatory system.
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