--- title: "What are the new guidelines by the Indian government for digital media and OTT media?" description: "What are the new guidelines by the Indian government for digital media and OTT media?" author: "Rahul Roi" published: 2021-02-25 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93513/what-are-the-new-guidelines-by-the-indian-government-for-digital-media-and-ott-media category: "law & legal issues" tags: ["laws and legal issues", "indian constitution"] reading_time: 3 minutes --- # What are the new guidelines by the Indian government for digital media and OTT media? What are the new [guidelines](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/80614/dental-guidelines-why-you-should-visit-your-dentist-during-pregnancy) by the [Indian government](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/84685/why-indian-government-should-ban-madarsa-to-trained-jihadis) for [digital media](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/81486/the-secrets-of-digital-media-marketing) and [OTT](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93593/what-is-ott) media ## Answers ### Answer by Shriyam Srivastava When the **Farmer Bill** came into action in **February this year (2021),** there were many tweets strolling in **Twitter** which the govt. of India thought to be inciting violence. There was a spat between the govt. and Twitter for the same. **Hence, from there, the govt. issued new guidelines for all [digital](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/85590/how-to-create-a-productive-digital-workspace) [media](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/80728/jamia-milia-islamia-the-only-public-university-for-media-students) platforms running in India**. Also, **[IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Shankar_Prasad)** on Thursday said concerns have been raised over uncontrolled abuse of social media platforms and spread of fake news. *The **Supreme Court** gave its jurisdiction that the misuse of social media and OTT (over-the-top) platforms* may not be effective as they lack penal provisions and the Centre should frame more stringent rules in order to keep a check and regulate their working. ![What are the new guidelines by the Indian government for digital media and OTT media?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/d295f778-aed4-42eb-9e93-ea96a2f2f482/images/4db2b2ba-e18e-481f-9efa-f02853c98055.jpeg)\ \ **New Guidelines**: • **OTT platform**: a *three-level grievance redressal mechanism* has been established for OTT players (Netflix, Amazon, etc.). Also, they will have to classify their content into ***5 age-based levels:** U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).* There would be a feature of **parental lock** which these platforms would have to implement for content U/A 13+ or higher, and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as A. \ ![What are the new guidelines by the Indian government for digital media and OTT media?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/d295f778-aed4-42eb-9e93-ea96a2f2f482/images/8ac9c51a-2b43-49a4-aa43-98d11d6c5bbb.png) \ \ • **Social media:** all social media categories would be classified under 2 categories- **Social media intermediaries** and **Significant Social media intermediaries** (t*hey will have greater obligations). 50 lac registered users have been fixed for defining the threshold of ‘Significant social media intermediary’.* They will have to adhere to additional obligations and compliance under the new IT rules. **The new IT rules require significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs) such as Google, Facebook, etc. to publish a monthly report on the action taken on user complaints that they have received.** This would ensure more transparency between the govt. and these platforms. Aligning with this, the new IT ACT in India has been issued on **25 February, 2021** by the [Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.](https://www.meity.gov.in/)\ • **‘Code of conduct’** for social media platforms: the social media will have to remove any disputable content flagged by the [Indian](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/85582/bollywood-the-fascinating-world-of-indian-cinema) Govt. or court within 36 hours. Any obscene/ morphed content should be taken down within 24 hours of reporting. The person/group spreading these hatred/abusive content should be reported to the [government](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/83223/imran-khan-is-no-longer-pm-formation-of-new-government-of-pakistan) immediately. ![What are the new guidelines by the Indian government for digital media and OTT media?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/d295f778-aed4-42eb-9e93-ea96a2f2f482/images/e916da7d-5e4a-4bd4-b452-ed0f92370a9a.jpeg) \ • **For Digital news media:** just like OTT platforms the digital media would also have to adhere to three-tier grievance redressal mechanism. There are some Code of Conduct for them also. Following **Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act** is a must for digital news media. The IT minister said that social media, digital platforms and OTT players should not play double standards in taking down disputed content/adhering to the norms or reporting the origin of a mischievous tweet/post by someone. \ The government decided to restrict any activity on social media which would hamper India's sovereignty and any individual Indian's dignity. \ \ --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93513/what-are-the-new-guidelines-by-the-indian-government-for-digital-media-and-ott-media Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.