MUMBAI: Online content regulation has stirred a lot of controversies recently in the Indian over-the-top (OTT) ecosystem. While many experts and platforms are not in favour of censorship, a survey revealed that 57 per cent of Indians want government regulation for OTT platforms.

“Nine in ten (91 per cent) said content-either on TV, films or online, should be regulated by the government, either always (as said by 40 per cent) or sometime (51 per cent). Men are more likely than women to say they want content to be regulated always (45 per cent versus 34 per cent) while women are more likely to want censorship sometime (56 per cent 46 per cent),” Business Insider quoted a survey from YouGov.

According to the survey, more than 59 per cent of Indians think that OTT platforms in the country have huge offensive content which is unsuitable for public viewing while 47 per cent find some of the content uncomfortable to watch around family. But 30 per cent of the respondents think content quality will be compromised due to censorship.

YouGov Omnibus conducted the survey among 1005 respondents in India between 22-28 October using YouGov’s panel of over 6mn people worldwide.

Earlier, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) secretary Amit Khare said there is a need to rethink regulating over-the-top (OTT) platforms because some sections of the society are voicing concerns on its content.