Regulations of OTT Platforms: Boon or Bane!
The nationwide lockdown in 2020 was pretty hard on all of
us, wasn’t it? No schools, universities or outings, instead lots of time to spare at home.
Well, most of us spent our time Binge watching a lot of web series and movies. Over-the-top platforms working in India like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc. have
gained pace and benefitted a great deal during lockdown.
Netflix and Chill became a popular concept during the previous
year and the OTT platform increased its user base by 16
million. The growth of OTT platforms puts the spotlight on the question of regulating the content available on the online space.
It is off course necessary to regulate these online platforms, so that, they do not risk the mind development of a child.
Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have a feature of
restricting the content that is 16+. These measures should be
given preference and encouraged among other OTT Platforms
as well. Netflix also organised a three day long free steaming
fest which allowed subscribers and non subscribers to view its
content without a prescribed age limit. Now-a-days, Web Series
gain huge fan base and get viral among a large number of
audience in a short span of time. Thus, it becomes all the more
important that the content does not hammer the cultural and
regional beliefs of people. A censor board is required that'll review the content to be suitable before it is
released on any OTT Platform.
Well, every coin has two sides therefore we must keep in
mind the second side of the story too.
The important subjects which reflect the true picture of our society cannot be easily brought up in the mainstream movies or cinema. As
the content of movies is censored to a great extent, it sometimes brings up unnecessary barriers. If these barriers are brought into the OTT world as well, audience would lose
interest, as there will be hardly any difference left. Online web
series like Scam 1992, Special Ops, Asur, etc brought up some
very important and interesting topics, possibly the reason
behind them winning the hearts of millions of people.
Moreover, if OTT platforms come under the control of
government and get completely centralised, they can be misused
for political purposes as well.
In a nut shell, the regulation of OTT Platforms is necessary but only to a certain extent. The growing technology and easy access to numerous shows must not have a negative impact on the
mind of the younger generations as every age group enjoys watching
shows that are most suited for their taste. So, Happy Binge
Watching!