Online content creators and directors flag issues hurting business

Online content creators, directors and producers have flagged issues around “petty” objections against their shows, multiplicity of forums for filing complaints, and criminal sanctions under Indian regulations as impacting their ease of doing business. They aired their grievances in a regulatory impact assessment study that was released on Tuesday.

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the industry body of digital services firms, and think tank The Dialogue jointly released the second volume of their impact assessment study, focused on the part-III of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. As many as 103 stakeholders including digital platforms providing over-the-top (OTT) streaming services submitted their inputs for the report.

Though the experts and industry stakeholders appreciated the government’s aim to preserve the rule of law on the content streamed by OTT platforms, they noted that the IT Rules seemed unsuitable to them due to certain legal and constitutional questions.

A majority of content creators and producers have noted that the multiplicity of legislations and directives not just leads to compliance uncertainties but also raises questions around the authority of the agencies that form these policies. Most of the OTT platforms have also highlighted the infeasibility of criminal liability associated with creative laws, which, according to them, lead to self censorship and unwarranted economic burden.

However, the study added that the constitution of the office of grievance officer and clear delineation of their duties provided under the Rules had ensured greater accountability from the platforms. The experts also praised the regulations under Part 3 of the IT Rules 2021, for getting operationalised smoothly.

Part III of the IT Rules has provisions to regulate digital news publishers and OTT platforms and publishers of curated content — such as YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ Hotstar— that have a physical presence in India or conduct systematic business activity of making content available in India. The Rules were laid down by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, but the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has the power to govern the content streamed online.

The study found a majority of experts calling out the need to re-evaluate the definitions of objectionable content marked as half-truths, indecency, causing annoyance, etc. under part-III of the IT Rules, 2021, to preserve online free speech and promote creative freedom.

“Over the last one decade, India’s content regulation space has progressed rapidly and the IT Rules, 2021, marked a significant milestone in the platform regulation ecosystem. The ongoing deliberations for the new IT Act provides an important opportunity to address new aspects through greater research and multi-stakeholder dialogues, which will ensure that our policies continue to remain rights-enabling as well as innovation-friendly,” said Kazim Rizvi, founding director at The Dialogue.

The platforms have also noted that the grievance redress mechanisms prescribed under the IT Rules should be the sole platform for filing complaints and all central and state government authorities must be prohibited from creating any other forum for it. The content creators, producers and directors unanimously raised critical concerns on “petty” police complaints filed by individuals and groups to ban movies and series streamed online.

Talking points

• Experts say blocking orders of MIB lack appropriate reasoning
• A majority of experts stress need to re-evaluate definitions of objectionable content
• Directors and producers express concerns about “petty” complaints creating self-censorship
• 2/3rd OTT platforms say IT Rules didn’t cause business hindrances, besides principle-level concerns