Netflix: Netflix, Disney, Amazon challenge government’s new tobacco rules: Here’s what they have to say – Times of India

Netflix, Amazon and Disney have challenged the government’s new tobacco warning rules, saying that they are impossible to implement for them. The health ministry ordered the platforms to insert static health warnings during smoking scenes within three months.
Citing a letter by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), news agency Reuters reported that a group representing the streaming giants said that the new rules will impinge on content creators’ freedom of expression.
According to the new tobacco warning rules, the streaming companies were also told to include at least 50 seconds of anti-tobacco disclaimers, including an audio-visual, at the start and in the middle of each program.
This means that streaming giants will need to edit millions of hours of existing Hollywood and Indian web content.
The amount of multilingual content on platforms “is very high … there is a practical impossibility associated with including such warnings across content,” the letter reportedly noted.
‘Content descriptors more effective’
The companies believe content descriptors were more effective, IAMAI said. Descriptors warn users with a label “smoking” in a video alongside its title at the start.
The “disruptions” caused by warnings were “problematic for creators that put in considerable investments,” IAMAI noted.
It also asked the health ministry to revisit the “onerous” rules, citing a survey, according to which, viewers were indifferent to depictions of smoking on streaming platforms.

‘Rules hit consumer experience’
Last week, executives of the three global streaming companies, and Viacom18 which runs the JioCinema app, held a closed-door meeting. In the meeting, Netflix said that the rules would hit customer experience and push production houses to block their content in India.
It is to be noted that all smoking and alcohol drinking scenes in movies shown in cinemas and on TV in the country are required to have health warnings. However, there were no regulations for the streaming giants.
Reportedly, activists have welcomed India’s new rules, saying it would discourage smoking In India where 1.3 million people are killed each year.