New Directions For Tobacco Warnings On OTT!

From building a series’ villain or hero to forming an intense scene, smoking is always incorporated into that part. Even in Sherlock’s intense brainstorming scene without the pipe or Khan’s smoking scene in Don 2, they defined the moment.

Now, movies and series either force or encourage their audience to smoke. However, as a form of mass entertainment, they carry the responsibility to make the audience aware of the harmful side of the act. Previously, the Government of India made it mandatory for OTT platforms to play a 30-second anti-tobacco warning at the beginning and middle of each video.

But this change wasn’t really welcomed by several OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Walt Disney, and JioCinema. Now, the OTT platforms are worried about the fact that it will limit the creative freedom, which is the prime USP of the platforms.

Now, after minor protests, the government will be trying to ease this and settle for implementing stricter warnings on content streamed on platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. After differences in measures, both parties had a long discussion behind closed doors on August 28th.

The OTT platforms demand more flexibility in terms of rules and regulations and in terms of application, a wider window.

Reports indicate that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has expressed concerns regarding the implementation of rules on existing content, foreign content, and the placement of health warnings within the content. As an alternative approach, they have proposed the idea of displaying health warnings when users log in.

The situation is indeed getting somewhat complex here, as it’s not just the I&B ministry that is pushing for the changes, but also the health ministry has a strong say in this as well.