IAMAI forms Digital Publishers Content Grievances Council for OTTs
Pursuant to the mandate of new intermediary rules for OTTs to abide by a three-tier grievance redressal system, the Internet ad Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has formed the Digital Publishers Content Grievances Council.
The council is formed under Rule 12 of the new intermediary rules and is a tier-II body.
New Intermediary Rules
The rules, formally known as the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, came into effect last week.
The rules mandate a three tier self-regulating mechanism. At level-I, the publisher will establish a grievance redressal mechanism and appoint a grievance officer based in India. The officer will have to take a decision within 15 days.
Level-II is another self regulating mechanism. As per the rules, an association of applicable entities can have a self-regulatory body. Any body would need to register with the Ministry within thirty days of its constitution. This body would need to resolve disputes which the streaming services failed to resolve within the 15 day time period. It also entertains appeals from the decisions of tier-1 mechanism.
The level two body will also have a 15-day deadline to resolve the issue. The body will also have the mandate to oversee adherence to the Code of Ethics, and issue guidelines for necessary compliance.
A retired Supreme Court Justice shall head the self-regulatory organisation, who a committee formed by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting would appoint. It will also have up to six other members, who are experts from the field of media, broadcasting, technology and entertainment.
Digital Publishers Content Grievances Council
The council will comprise an OCCP (Original Curated Content Publishers) Council and an independent Grievance Redressal Board.
IMAI has confirmed participation of 10 publishers including Alt Balaji, Amazon Prime Video, Arha Media, Firework, Hoichoi, Hungama, Lionsgate Play, MX Player, Netflix, and Shemaroo.
Economic Times reported that IAMAI has also notified the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting about the development, and has also shared a list of publishers who have confirmed to be members of the Council.
Subho Ray, President, IAMAI said, “IAMAI and members of the DPCGC are deeply committed to protecting consumer rights and empowering consumers with the right tools to make informed decisions, as well as have their grievances addressed. The formation of this body is an important step towards consumer choice, as more and more people are viewing content online,”.
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