New Delhi, Oct 15 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Centre, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Internet and Mobile Association of India over a plea on regulating digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

The petition filed by Advocates Shashank Shekhar Jha and Apurv Arhatia sought a direction from the court to regulate the content at Over The Top (OTT) platforms.

The petitioner brought to the notice of the court that as COVID-19 pandemic crisis is still prevalent, the film makers will remain away from cinemas halls and use the internet medium to release their movies.

As the OTT platforms remain unregulated due to lack of any policy from the Centre, the movies will be released without any approval from censor board or any other organisation.

Several movies have already been released in similar fashion over these platforms, the petitioners said.

They also stated that as the viewership is rising for digital content, a required regulation is much needed as it can affect the masses.

No OTT platforms have come out with a self-regulatory mechanism as asked by the I&B ministry so far, the petitioner further mentioned.

Also, sexual, vulgar, violent and illicit content is played without any censorship or warning, they said.

Thus a need arises to "keep the value system intact", the plea underlined.

It asked for the establishment of a body headed by an IAS officer of secretary level and other experts from various fields to regulate the OTT platforms.

Accepting the petition, a Supreme Court bench headed Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued the notice and sought a reply.

UNI PS JAL 1943