In a very important statement for the sake of digital decorum and the public good, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has blocked access to five Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms. The move, on February 24, 2026, comes after being notified multiple times about obscene, vulgar, and “soft-pornographic” content streaming through the pretext of entertainment. The crackdown was carried out under the powers provided for in the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
List of blocked platforms
After the full-scale scrutiny and endless complaints from both users and child-rights organizations, several platforms (both their apps in addition to their websites) have been blocked from working in India:
- Hunter
- Besharams
- PrimePlay
- Hothit
- NeonX
The government has ordered Google Play Store and Apple App Store to remove the applications to block repeated downloads. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) also have to block URLs from these sites.
Why the Action was Taken
It added that such platforms are ‘consistently acting in a manner that runs afoul of Section 67 and 67A of the IT Act, which prohibits the publication or transmission of material containing sexually explicit acts in electronic form.
Degradation of Products: There was evidence to indicate that the platforms were promoting inappropriate thumbnails, titles and images, with no claim to moral value or artistic or social merit.
Youth-Conscious Content: A large amount of it was readily available and not very well protected by age-verification systems for minors.
According to a senior MIB official, “the objective is not to stifle artistic freedom, let alone digital creativity, and to take away some power as a voice, but to ensure that the digital environment is safe and upholds the cultural identity of our community, respect our society's ethical and national integrity”.
This is not an isolated case. Over the past two years, the Ministry has been scrutinizing much more closely, on some occasions, "niche" OTT platforms that can bypass the standard CBFC censorship board and instead allow them to provide free streams for explicit content in these spaces.
"Although India fosters a lively digital economy, for the sake of obscenity, freedom of expression must not be used as a license to hide the obscene," stressed the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting. That means the government is encouraging big OTT players to strictly self-regulate to prevent any similar intervention.
