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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has directed that public access to 25 OTT platforms, including Ullu, ALTT, and Desiflix, be disabled for streaming obscene, and at times, pornographic content, sources in the government said. The direction to block the websites and apps of these 25 OTT platforms came on July 23, they added.
The action was reportedly taken in consultation with the ministries of home affairs and electronics and information technology, the department of legal affairs, industry bodies FICCI and CII, as well as experts working in the domain of women and child rights.
As part of the directive, content from 26 websites and 14 apps will be blocked under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the IT Rules, 2021. These apps were streaming vulgar content from these OTT platforms, sources said.
This is not the first time that platforms like Ullu and ALTT have come under the government’s scanner. In July and August 2024, the National Commission on Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had flagged the obscene content streamed by both platforms. For instance, a web series called House Arrest was taken down by Ullu in May 2025 after intervention by the ministry.
Action was also taken earlier by the Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council (DPCGC), a self-regulatory body headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, with a membership of about 40 OTT platforms, including ALTT and Ullu.
The council had also directed the removal of over 100 web series from Ullu after it was found that while the platform removes or edits the web series for a temporary period, it either re-uploads or publishes the unedited version after a certain period, thereby attempting to circumvent the warnings.
Decisions taken include editing of content in the web-series on ALTT after the Council had found that some of the scenes were distasteful and bizarre, where sex and nudity were shown without any contextual justification to augment viewership.
ALT Digital is a subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms. Indian television film producers Ektaa Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor are promoter directors of Balaji Telefilms. Media entrepreneur Vibhu Agarwal is the founder of the ULLU App.
In the last two years, the government has received multiple public grievances against all these platforms.
In September 2024, the government issued communications to all 25 platforms highlighting the issue, but the platforms continued to publish obscene and, in some cases, pornographic content.
On February 9 this year, an advisory was issued for OTT platforms to adhere to the Code of Ethics prescribed under the IT Rules, 2021, and laws related to obscenity in India. However, five platforms that were blocked earlier in March 2024 started publishing obscene content on new website domains, the sources said.
Sources said the content streamed by all these platforms included sexual innuendos, and in some cases, long portions of sexually explicit scenes involving nudity, which were pornographic in nature.
“There was hardly any storyline, theme or message in a social context. A large portion of the content was obscene and vulgar,” a government source said, adding that depiction of nudity and sex in several inappropriate contexts, including family relationships.
Sources said the content of the platforms was in violation of Section 67 of the IT Act, Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986. Some platforms published sexually explicit content in violation of Section 67A of the IT Act.
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