List of 18 OTT platforms banned by Centre for vulgar and obscene content

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday has taken action against 18 OTT platforms for publishing vulgar and obscene content. The Centre has banned these platforms nationwide after multiple warnings issued from Union Minister Anurag Thakur. 

Not only OTT platforms, the ministry has also taken the strict action against 19 websites, 10 apps (including 7 apps on Google Play Store and 3 on Apple App Store) and 57 social media handles associated with these platforms.

List of OTT platforms:

Dream Films

Voovi

Yessma

Uncut Adda

Tri Flicks

X Prime

Neon X VIP

Besharms

Hunters

Rabbit

Xtramood

Nuefliks

MoodX

Mojflix

Hot Shots VIP

Fugi

Chikooflix

Prime Play

The decision to ban these platforms has been taken under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in consultation with other ministries and departments of the Centre and domain experts specialising in media and entertainment, women’s rights and child’s rights. 

As per a release issued by PIB, ”a significant portion of the content hosted on these platforms was found to be obscene, vulgar, and portrayed women in a demeaning manner. It depicted nudity and sexual acts in various inappropriate contexts, such as relationships between teachers and students, incestuous family relationships, etc. The content included sexual innuendos and, in some instances, prolonged segments of pornographic and sexually explicit scenes devoid of any thematic or societal relevance.”

”The content was determined to be prime facie in violation of Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, Section 292 of the IPC, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Aet, 1986,” the release added. 

About viewership on these platforms

As per the PIB release, one of the OTT apps had over 1 crore downloads, while other two had over 50 lakh downloads on the Google Play Store. Meanwhile, the social media accounts of these OTT platforms has a cumulative followership of over 32 lakh users.