The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India has issued Advisory on carrying content having its origin in Pakistan with reference to the Part-III of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media, Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (hereinafter referred to as IT Rules, 2021), inter- alia, provide for a Code of Ethics for publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms).
The Code of Ethics under the Rules provides that, a publisher shall take into consideration the following factors, when deciding to feature or transmit or publish or exhibit any content, after duly considering the implications of any content as falling under the following categories, and shall exercise due caution and discretion in relation to the same, namely: - Content which affects the sovereignty and integrity of India; Content which threatens, endangers or jeopardises the security of the State; Content which is detrimental to India's friendly relations with foreign countries; and Content which is likely to incite violence or disturb the maintenance of public order.
Further, rule 3(l)(b) of Part-II of the IT Rules, 2021 provides that intermediaries shall make reasonable efforts by itself, and to cause the users of its computer resource to not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that inter-alia "threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, friendly relations with foreign States, or public order".
Several terrorist attacks in India have been established to have cross- border linkages with Pakistan based State and non-State actors. Recently, on 22.04.2025, the terrorist attack in Pahalgam led to the killing of several Indians, one Nepali citizen, and injuries to a number of others.
In the interest of national security, all OTT platforms, media streaming platforms and intermediaries operating in India are advised to discontinue the web-series, films, songs, podcasts and other streaming media content, whether made available on a subscription based model or otherwise, having its origins in Pakistan with immediate effect.
(DIPR)