Over-the-top (OTT) streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video reached an uneasy compromise with the Union government on adding smoking warnings to their content, according to minutes of a meeting with the industry obtained by The Hindu, and a review of smoking warnings on different platforms.
Some streaming services such as Hotstar have added video and on-screen warnings for even older films, while others such as Netflix have chosen less intrusive warnings, with a message warning against tobacco consumption on the top left of the screen at the beginning of content with smoking.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had on May 31 notified the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules, 2023, which required streaming services to interrupt programming with tobacco consumption in the middle of each film or episode, and display a warning at the beginning, on top of text scrolls on each shot containing smoking.
