Now Reading: Parliament Panel Wants OTT Age Verification, Post-Release Review
-
01
Parliament Panel Wants OTT Age Verification, Post-Release Review
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on home affairs has asked the Union home ministry to create a standardised multilingual grievance-redress system for intermediaries under the IT Rules, 2021. The panel, headed by BJP…
The Story in Brief
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on home affairs has asked the Union home ministry to create a standardised multilingual grievance-redress system for intermediaries under the IT Rules, 2021. The panel, headed by BJP MP Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, also wants the government to study an independent post-release review panel for OTT content flagged by users, with experts from child development, law and social sciences.
The committee recommends robust age-verification and parental controls in a proposed OTT regulatory framework, with penalties for non-compliance. It also wants stricter verification of offshore digital advertisers to curb fraud, a durable mechanism for CBI cybercrime probes across states, and a unified cybercrime law with a specialised task force. Integration of cyber-hygiene into school curricula has also been urged.
The Indian Opinion
Some will cry censorship, others will demand the government crack down on 'objectionable' content. But the panel's recommendations are just that, recommendations. The key test is whether the home ministry actually drafts a law that balances freedom of expression with genuine harms like child safety and fraud. Watch how OTT platforms react: will they volunteer stronger age checks, or wait for a statutory stick? The numbers that matter are the compliance rates post any new rules.
Source: rediff.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
