Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ will self-regulate to avoid India censorship
Streaming services are keen to prevent regulators from censoring their content, and they’re willing to police themselves to ensure that artistic freedom. Variety reports that Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and 12 other companies have signed a self-regulatory code to stay on the good side of India’s regulators. This includes common approaches to age labels and content descriptions as well as a way to report any violations of the system. Streaming services have to set up complaint departments, internal committees or both to deal with any issues.
The code was created by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (disclaimer: Engadget’s parent brand Verizon Media is a member) and is already in effect.
The Indian government has been hesitant to censor streaming services and would rather they keep themselves in check. This theoretically keeps officials happy — they don’t have to worry as much that parents will inadvertently play inappropriate movies for their kids, or that there will be no way to report a TV show.
Services like Netflix already honor age ratings in other countries. However, it’s rare for these internet-focused outlets to unite on a rating system — they’ve clearly determined that it’s easier to work with each other than to have the government step in.
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