by Nikhil Pahwa and Aroon Deep “This is not an IAMAI code, and it should not be represented in that manner,” a stakeholder apparently said during a contentious meeting held via video conferencing on March 18th 2020, by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) with several streaming platforms. This video conference was held keeping in mind that Chitrita Chatterjee, an advisor with the IAMAI, was expected to meet the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on the 20th of March, to discuss the status of a self regulatory code for online content streaming companies, which the Ministry is also pushing for. That meeting, sources have told MediaNama, did not taken place, owing to the general concerns related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the call, the IAMAI had sought support for its latest content regulation code, given that MIB Minister Prakash Javadekar has given the industry 100 days to finalize a self regulatory code that has participation of much of the online streaming and entertainment industry. Depending on what is finalized, the code could end up affecting the availability of shows and movies on online streaming services, and how shows are possibly censored and subtitled. For illustration purposes, MediaNama had applied the draconian BCCC code to an episode of Netflix's Sacred Games. IAMAI's "Tier 2" code, as the latest code is called, was rushed through last month, and has anything but consensus: only five out of around 30 of its own Media & Entertainment committee members…
