Amazon Prime received a total of 263 grievances in November 2023 out of which it disposed of 251 grievances, according to the disclosure published by the company under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Besides the grievances received in November, Amazon Prime also had 13 grievances pending from October, all of which have now been disposed of. Among the grievances Amazon Prime disposed of, only 6 were related to violations of the Code of Ethics detailed under the IT Rules, 2021. It agreed to only one of these grievances and took action on it. Amazon received one order from the Central Government and self-regulatory bodies, which it says it has complied with.
This makes Amazon Prime the platform receiving the highest number of grievances among the three major streaming services— Netflix, Disney+Hostar, and itself. By comparison, Netflix received 32 grievances in November and Disney+Hotstar only received one.
How does the grievance redressal system work?
Streaming platforms are currently regulated by the IT Rules, 2021 which has a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism. At the first level, companies themselves will have to address complaints filed by users. If the users are not satisfied with the response of the company, then can approach a self-regulatory body. If they are still not satisfied, they can escalate the complaint to an inter-departmental committee in the third tier.
Notably, this system will be replaced by a very similar three-tier regulatory system under the new the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill released for consultation in November this year. The introduction of a new law to regulate streaming services makes one wonder: are there issues with how streaming platforms address grievances, and if so, why is the new bill following through with a system that is so similar to it?
What about other platforms?
Netflix: Of the 32 grievances it received, 14 have been disposed of. Netflix also had 22 grievances pending from the previous month, all of which have been disposed of in November. Only 4 of the grievances were related to the code of ethics, none of which Netflix agreed to.
Disney+Hotstar: It disposed of the one grievance it received in November. An appeal was filed against the disposed of grievance with the self-regulatory appellate body, no order has been issued by the self-regulatory body on the matter.
Amazon MiniTV: It received 6 grievances last month all of which have been disposed of. It also disposed of the one grievance it had due from the previous month. Of the grievances disposed of, only 2 were related to violations to the code of ethics, Amazon MiniTV did not agree with either of these grievances.
JioCinema: It received 141 grievances in November of which only one has been disposed of, this grievance was related to the code of ethics and was agreed to by JioCinema.
SonyLiv: The platform received 57 grievances in November and disposed of all of them. Only one of the grievances was related to the code of ethics and SonyLiv did not agree to said grievance.
Note: As of writing this story, Zee 5 has not updated its website with the grievances it received in October. Viacom18 (Voot’s parent company) does not disclose the details of its grievance redressal report and we were unable to access AltBalaji’s grievance redressal report.
Also read:
- How Many Grievances Were Logged By Online Streaming Platforms Under IT Rules, 2021 In October 2023?
- How Many Grievances Were Logged By Streaming Companies Under IT Rules, 2021, In January 2023?
- Here’s How The Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2023, Impacts Streaming Services
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