The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking framing of guidelines to regulate functioning of online media streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao rejected the petition after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed it that online platforms are not required to obtain any licence from the Ministry.
The government said the content on online platforms is not being regulated by the Ministry.
The HC was hearing a petition by NGO Justice for Rights Foundation, which alleged that online streaming platforms show “uncertified, sexually explicit and vulgar” content.
The petition claimed that a police complaint has been filed but no action taken on it.
In its plea, the NGO had claimed that online media streaming platforms, that also include Hotstar, show content which is “unregulated and uncertified” for public viewing. The NGO also alleged that the contents were violative of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
It sought directions to the Ministries of Communication, Information and Broadcasting, and Law and Justice to frame guidelines to regulate such platforms and the content they broadcast. The plea had also sought an order to the Ministries to direct the online platforms “to remove legally restricted content with immediate effect”.