The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s notification on May 31 requiring OTT streaming platforms to display anti-tobacco warnings before films and TV show episodes that feature them — as well as static warning messages in shots of content featuring tobacco use — infringes on the freedom of speech of creators, the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) said in a letter to Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, a copy of which was provided to The Hindu.
The “introduction of these Amendment Rules, 2023 may have a ‘chilling effect’ on critical depiction of societal ills in [the] context of lifestyle choices, thus infringing on the right to freedom of speech and expression of the individuals involved in the making of the content in question,” Prateek Waghre, Policy Director at the advocacy group wrote. “This may lead to far poorer portrayals of the same societal issues of health and welfare that the Rules, in spirit, seek to address, and may then also reach a smaller audience than those OTT platforms currently cater to due to the regulations.”
The requirement was introduced by notifying an amendment to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2004. Since 2004, these Rules have been amended to introduce (and subsequently enlarge) warning messages on cigarette boxes; to restrict advertising of tobacco products; limit tobacco retail around educational institutions; and to mandate the display of anti-tobacco warnings in cinemas and on TV, mediums which have largely obeyed the requirements.
