Darjeeling MP Raju Bista commends Centre for move to regulate online news and OTT platforms

DARJEELING: BJP MP Raju Bista of Darjeeling commended the Centre for its move to regulate the online news and OTT platforms.

He further urged the Information Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar to ensure that all web series are brought under the preview of Censor Board of India, like our films and other TV programs.

I recently spoke about a horrendous clip from an online Web Series #PaatalLok, currently streaming on Amazon Prime. According to the minister, the show made some demeaning and derogatory remarks against the women from Nepali community.  Bista expressed that he was shocked and enraged, Biswa told the Union Minister.

Bista said, “I do believe that Freedom of Speech and Expression is sacrosanct, but many in digital media space took it to be a licence to stereotype, malign, vilify and demean one particular community or the other. The same rules, laws and standards that apply to other forms of media - Print, Electronic and Radio can now be applied to digital media, which will benefit the people by ensuring better quality of content online.”

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On Wednesday, the government of India issued an order bringing online news portals and content providers such as Netflix under the Information and Broadcasting ministry. This is being seen as a move to regulate the content of digital media. This move has been effected amid ongoing crackdowns against ‘hate speech’ on social media.

Presently, digital media is the only form of media contet that is not being regulated right now. The Press Council of India takes care of the print media, and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) monitors news channels.

Last month, the Supreme Court sought the centre’s response on a petition for regulating OTT platforms by an autonomous body.

OTT platforms include news portals and also streaming services such as Hotstar, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, which are accessible over the internet or ride on an operator’s network.

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