International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

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The evolution of legal censorship in India: Impact of OTT platforms on modern censorship laws.

Author(s) Vatsal Vyas, Mr Sheheen Marakkar
Country India
Abstract Media control in India has changed greatly due to change in politics, technology and social values. Since the press was already under controllable ownership during the colonial rule of the country to the censorship of cinema and broadcast media, censorship has served as one of the important tools by which the state has been trying to control the discourse of the people. Although the constitutional document embraced post-independently formally ensured the freedom of speech and expression, the censorship process still persisted in accordance with institutional and regulatory regulations aimed at narrowing the liberties of individuals and the interests of the national and personal order, morality, and the interests of the country.

Over the recent years, the advent of the Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms has broken the pattern of media regulation. In contrast to the print, cinema, and broadcasting, the OTT platforms are executed in a decentralized digital space, which is supported by the network of intermediaries, who are operated privately and the distribution network across the borders. This change has brought significant challenges to the laws on censorship which were initially designed to accommodate centralized and geographically based media structures. The increasing dependence on self-regulation, algorithmic regulation, and platform regulation has made it unclear where state censorship and individual regulation of expression begin and end, a question of transparency, accountability, and constitutional protection.

The study focuses on the history of legal censorship in India and its individual influence on modern censorship legislation in relation to the effect of OTT platforms. The study examines the changing regulatory philosophies to fit the technological change and the ability of the current regulatory approaches to guarantee freedom of expression in the digital era by placing the regulation of digital streaming within the wider historical context of Indian media regulation. The paper contends that current censorship in India is a continuity/ transformation in that traditional regulatory habits mix with newer controls of platforms. It finds that a rights-based and historically informed regulatory framework is needed to deal with the problems of OTT platforms and maintain the values of democracy and constitutional freedoms.
Keywords Legal Censorship Freedom of Expression Mass Media Regulation Over-The-Top (OTT) Platforms Digital Media Governance
Published In Volume 8, Issue 2, March-April 2026
Published On 2026-03-13
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E-ISSN 2582-2160
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