Age rating to list of don'ts: Draft rules on obscenity online, Pg1

Key Highlights:

• The Centre is drafting IT (Digital Code) Rules, 2026 to address obscenity in online content, including age-based content classification.
• The draft rules propose classifying digital content by age suitability, with labels like 'U', 7+, 13+, 16+, and adult-only.
• This initiative follows a Supreme Court directive to safeguard free speech while ensuring reasonable restrictions, with a hearing scheduled for January 29.
• The draft rules are significantly borrowed from the Programme Code under the Cable TV Network Rules, 1994.

Detailed Insights:

• The proposed rules define obscenity as content that is lascivious, appeals to prurient interests, or tends to deprave and corrupt individuals.
• Digital content should not offend good taste, decency, or promote communal attitudes, and should avoid false innuendos or denigrating portrayals.
• The rules mandate content descriptors and age ratings to inform users, with parental control mechanisms for content rated U/A 13+ or higher.
• Concerns have been raised by content curators regarding potential arbitrary complaints and the impact on the nuanced legal distinction between broadcast and on-demand streaming.
• The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, will also apply, raising concerns about regulatory uncertainty in the digital content sector.
• The industry argues that applying broadcast-era obscenity standards to password-protected, on-demand environments overlooks viewer agency and technological safeguards.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Obscenity: Content that is offensive, violates community standards, or lacks artistic, scientific, or political value.
• Age Rating: A system used to classify content based on its suitability for different age groups.
• Digital Content: Any form of media, including text, images, audio, and video, that is distributed online.