The government is committed to protecting creative freedom under Article 19 of the Constitution while regulating harmful content on OTT platforms through the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The rules, notified on February 25, 2021, under the IT Act, 2000, include a Code of Ethics for digital news publishers and OTT platforms, mandating that no content prohibited by law be transmitted.
A three-tier grievance redressal mechanism has been established, comprising self-regulation by publishers at Level I, oversight by self-regulating bodies at Level II, and a Central Government mechanism at Level III. Complaints received by the Ministry are forwarded to OTT platforms for resolution as per the rules. Following consultations with relevant ministries, the government has blocked 43 OTT platforms for displaying obscene content.
The Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) manages government advertisements across newspapers, TV, radio, outdoor, and digital media. Detailed policy guidelines ensure effective messaging across these platforms, with specifics available on the CBC website, cbcindia.gov.in.
To promote the Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) sector, recognized as a core component of India’s creative ecosystem, the government constituted a National AVGC-XR Task Force in April 2022 to outline a strategic roadmap. Key initiatives include the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit 2025, held in Mumbai from May 1 to 4, aimed at positioning India as a global hub for media and entertainment. The summit featured the Create in India Challenge, a talent hunt across 34 creative categories like animation, gaming, AR/VR, and music, attracting over one lakh registrations worldwide. It also included the WAVES Bazaar and WaveX accelerator, connecting creators to investors and providing mentorship in storytelling, AI, XR, and digital content creation.
The government has established the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) with an investment of Rs 392.85 crore to train professionals in AVGC-XR domains. Modelled on IITs and IIMs, IICT offers an industry-oriented curriculum and has signed MoUs with global companies like Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, and WPP for academic collaboration. The institute’s inaugural academic offerings include four courses in gaming, four in post-production, and nine in animation, comics, and XR. Further details are available at theiict.in.
This information was provided by Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.