Putting The Breaks On Ideas Is An Old Concept

Michael Hedges November 16, 2020 - Follow on Twitter

As we move deeper into the 21st century, anything spread widely around the world is uncomfortable, even scary. Ideas, of course, are not the problem. Neither is the means of distributing them. There is a problem in processing. That ever-present digital buzz can be disorienting, to be gracious.

Several governments are intent on sealing off their nations from evils bourn by the internet. This is just the latest example of backing away from globalization, part nationalistic and part isolationist. For decades, bolstering the World Wide Web has been broadly seen as a good thing, even essential for overall development. All ideas were good ideas, sharing them widely even better.

India’s president Ram Nath Kovind released a “circular” last week (November 10) broadly indicating a desire to filter the vast array of digital content entering the country. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will have broad authority over online content, from streaming video portals to social media. Details will come in a new law, sometime.

Given its size and proliferation of mobile telecom services and devices, India is a big target of opportunity for major global streaming video providers (SVoD). Disney (Hotstar), Netflix and Amazon Prime have ramped up production and distribution aimed at the Indian market, noted Reuters (November 11). By 2024 India’s streaming video business could be worth US$2.9 billion, according to a PwC estimate, quoted by Bloomberg (October 22).

Nationalist politicians in India have loudly complained about the unrestrained content available on the foreign streaming platforms. Several local providers agreed to a self-regulation regime that bars “disrespecting” the national flag or religious sentiments, promotes terrorism or child pornography and, notably, depicts any other content banned by law, reported The Hindu (November 11). A plethora of agencies regulate or “self-regulate” various media platforms in India, from newspapers and broadcasters to advertising and film production and distribution. The release of films in India requires government approval.

The clear sentiment is that online media platforms are about to meet more Indian regulation. “Digital platforms will fall under the purview of the Central government and regulating them will be a good thing for society,” said Maharashtra state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Government agencies, including police, already have legal remedies in place to order content to be filtered or removed from online platforms. During the 2019 Jammu/Kashmir, for example, the government completely cut internet access to deter access to news coverage of protests.

Social media platforms, somewhat separately, are also headed for new rules. In recent months, politicians aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have railed at Facebook’s treatment of hate speech. As with the streaming platforms, platforms that engage “news and current affairs” would be regulated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, “”interestingly”, said The Wire (November 11), in the “film” subcategory rather than “press.”

“There is no clarity on what they mean by digital media,” said news portal The Wire founding editor M.K. Venu to The Hindu. “The government talks about digital media and digital aggregators in the same breath but they are different things. Are they looking at licensing, are they looking at entry barriers, or are they looking at curbing digital media? We still don’t know.”

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