No proposal to appoint regulator for social media: Prasad

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“The social media platforms are enjoined to develop a robust grievance redressal system.”

The government on Wednesday informed Parliament that there is no proposal with the IT ministry to set up a regulator for social media.

Union IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, said that the government has released Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, under the IT Act that specifies the due diligence to be followed by all the intermediaries, including the social media intermediaries.

“The social media platforms are enjoined to develop a robust grievance redressal system. Presently, there is no proposal with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to appoint a regulator for social media,” Mr. Prasad informed the Lok Sabha.

 

The government in February had announced sweeping regulations for social media firms like Facebook and Twitter as well as OTT players such as Netflix, requiring them to remove any content flagged by authorities within 36 hours and setting up a complaint redressal mechanism with an officer being based in the country.

The guidelines also make it mandatory for platforms such as Twitter and WhatsApp to identify the originator of a message that authorities consider to be anti-national and against security and sovereignty of the country.

The new rules related to social media platforms are to be handled by the IT ministry while the Information and Broadcasting ministry will look after content related issues on entertainment apps and online news portals.

Mr. Prasad said under provision of section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the government blocks unlawful and malicious online content including social media account, in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above.

“Under this provision, 9,849 URLs/accounts/webpages, mostly on social media platforms, were blocked during the year 2020,” Mr. Prasad said.

 

In response to question whether the government has conducted any study regarding the impact of government’s control over social media vis-a-vis right to freedom of expression enshrined in the constitution, Prasad denied any such study undertaken by the government.

He said that the government welcomes criticism, dissent and also the rights of people to ask questions on social media.

“However, this needs to be acknowledged that the fundamental right of speech and expression under article 19(1) is also subject to reasonable restrictions under article 19(2) of the Constitution which can be imposed in the interest of security, safety and sovereignty of India, public order, friendly relations with foreign countries etc,” Mr. Prasad said.

The minister said it is equally important that social media should not be abused or misused to defame, promote terrorism, rampant violence and compromise the dignity of women.

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Supreme Court: Even pornography is being shown on OTT platforms, some balance needed | India News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court said on Thursday that there should be some screening of shows and web series being telecast on the over the top (OTT) platforms and asked the government to place recently framed regulation before it by tomorrow.
“Some regulation was needed as in some cases even pornography is being shown on such platforms and a balance has to be maintained,” the SC bench said.
The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal of the commercial head of Amazon Prime Video Aparna Purohit against the Allahabad high court order that denied anticipatory bail to her in the ongoing investigation over the web series ‘Tandav’.
The court will examine the Centre’s regulation and bail plea of Aparna Purohit tomorrow.

The government on February 25 notified new rules for social media and OTT platforms ostensibly to provide a level playing field to media platforms cutting across print, television and digital platforms, while adding that digital platforms doing business in India would have to follow the law of the land.
Under the new rules, the OTT platforms and Digital media will be required to disclose information about where they publish, the nature of the content they share as well as the size of their subscriber data. They will also be required to set up a grievance redressal mechanism.
For regulation of OTT platforms, the government mandated that a self-regulation body, headed by the retired judge or an eminent person, should be set up.
A separate oversight mechanism, as a third tier, has also been proposed.
‘Tandav’ case
The high court on February 25 declined to give protection from arrest to Purohit by dismissing the anticipatory bail application of her.
The Uttar Pradesh Police had filed an FIR against the top Amazon Prime executive for the derogatory depiction of Hindu deities and promoting religious enmity through the series.
‘Tandav’ actor Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Purohit and the makers had approached the top court seeking protection from arrest on the FIRs registered against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and telecasting objectionable content.
(With inputs from agencies)

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1962 The War in The Hills Review: A Great Disservice to the War Narrative

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1962: The War in The Hills

Cast: Abhay Deol, Sumeet Vyas, Mahie Gill, Anup Soni

Director: Mahesh Manjrekar

For the characters to be throwing around words like ‘the army’ and ‘war’ so often, 1962: The War in The Hills barely has any convincingly choreographed battle scenes to live up to the reputation of its projected theme. Most of the episodes are set in the countryside, where personal relationships of returning officers and their girlfriends take precedence. It evokes empathy but only to a certain extent as the dialogues are expository in nature and you can’t relate to the situations at play.

Not only do such scenes appear as terrible add-ons to the screenplay, they are dragged with unnecessary conversations that has no role to play in the larger scheme of things. Digression, and too much of it, weighs down the show as insincere performances keep mounting to the woes.

The War in the Hills has its battlefield scenes moulded on similar movies and shows that precede it. Sad part is some of the soldiers are made out to be unthinking and even brazenly unintelligent. For instance, one army man is shown to be killed while taking a toilet break as his team marches on, searching for the enemy. There is not much novelty in the battle scenes as well as the production looks shoddy and inspired.

Frankly, there’s not much in the show to take you beyond a couple of episodes. But if you dare watch it still, be it. Abhay Deol, the lead hero, is as unconvincing an army person as there can be. He keeps floating in and out of the scenes, with confused expressions and voice modulation.

The War in The Hills does great disservice to content creation on OTT.

Rating: 1/5



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Black Widows Review: Too Much Hamming Ruins This Otherwise Average Mystery

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Black Widows

Cast: Mona Singh, Sharad Kelkar, Shamita Shetty, Swastika Mukherjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay

Director: Birsa Dasgupta

If there is something that went completely off in ZEE5’s latest web series Black Widows, it is the exaggerated performances of the entire cast. Otherwise, this mystery-drama had enough meat in its storyline to keep one engaged. Mona Singh, Shamita Shetty and Swastika Mukherjee lead the remake of this Nordic original plot, but drain out the potential with their caricature-like treatment of the respective characters.

Veera (Mona), Jayati (Swastika) and Kavita (Shamita) are three friends, all caught up in abusive marriages. They decide to turn the tide once and for all while vacationing with their husbands on a private property. Little do these women know, the secrets that their partners had buried are too dark and deep for their thin skins. They must now brave odds at every step and wade through unknown waters to survive. Admittedly, all the characters are well defined in the Hindi adaptation and Black Widows’ original concept seems laden with edge-of-the-seat moments. It is fueled further with dark humour, which too hits the mark at some points. But the series seems a bit off track since the start due to delivery of actors, which is into-the-face. Light entertainment should have complimented the mystery quotient well. Instead, the treatment becomes parody-like, giving way to boredom, and robs the tale of the what-next quotient that one starts to anticipate.

Under Birsa Dasgupta’s direction, background score and editing are high points but acting is not. This crashes the suspenseful moments at every point. The investigative part featuring Parambrata Chattopadhyay as the lead detective too suffers from the same problem. His character, at 40, is unmarried and seems a little inexperienced when it comes to women. But the way he probes the case, his cop background also seems doubtful. Meaning, no one brings authenticity to their characters and do little justice to the series in turn.

All in all, Black Widows may give deliver cheap thrills for sometime. Considering its 10-episode run, we recommend you invest time somewhere else this week.

Rating: 2/5

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