The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has advised streaming services to "look at" the Broadcast Content Complaints Committee (BCCC) and the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) for structuring their content regulation framework, in a letter obtained by MediaNama following a RTI request. The Ministry has indicated a dislike for the current self-regulatory code that streaming services largely support, and seems to suggest that it has no problem with the Digital Content Complaints Committee, a previously proposed system that had divided streaming services. The I&B Ministry wrote in the letter: The IAMAI had earlier suggested a two-tier structure as part of the self-regulatory regime, the second tier being the Digital Curated Content Complaints Council (DCCC) along with enumeration of prohibited content. [...] In the self-regulatory mechanism which has now been informed as having been constituted, it is observed that there is no classification of prohibited content, the second tier (the Advisory Panel) is constituted by the OCCP itself (as against an Independent Body like DCCP proposed earlier). [...] Under the circumstances the Ministry cannot support the self-regulatory mechanism proposed by the IAMAI. It is advised to look at the structures of BCCC and NBSA as guiding principles for developing a credible self-regulatory and grievance redressal mechanism for the OCCPs. [Emphasis ours] The letter validates earlier reporting by the Indian Express that the government has refused to support the industry's self-regulation code. It's not clear what legal standing the I&B Ministry has to suggest these changes in the IAMAI's code. The ministry…
