India gives way to streaming firms’ objections to smoking rules

New Delhi — India’s health ministry has agreed to find “pragmatic solutions” for stricter tobacco warnings on content appearing on Netflix and Amazon Prime after the streaming industry raised objections, a government meeting record shows.

To curb tobacco use, India in May ordered streaming platforms to insert static health warnings during smoking scenes and at least 50 seconds of anti-tobacco disclaimers at the start and in the middle of each programme.

The move sparked concerns at Netflix, Amazon, Walt Disney and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s JioCinema platform, with executives fearing the rules will force editing of millions of hours of existing content, diminish customers’ experience and impinge on creators’ freedom of expression.

In a closed-door meeting on August 28, streaming executives met officials of India’s health ministry and information & broadcasting ministry. They sought relaxations of the rules and more time to comply beyond a three-month deadline, according to minutes of the confidential meeting reviewed by Reuters.

They found support from secretary Apurva Chandra of the information & broadcasting ministry, which regulates streaming platforms. Chandra “pointed out concerns regarding implementation in respect of existing library of content, foreign content and inclusion of health spots in the middle of the content”. He suggested platforms can consider an appropriate health warning to be displayed when users log in.

After the discussions, health secretary Sudhansh Pant “noted the harmful effects of tobacco use and concerns represented by the stakeholders and said that pragmatic solutions for operationalisation and compliance ... would be looked into in the larger interest of public health”, the minutes added.

The discussions signal India could change the rules or relax them in some way. It is unclear if, and when, the health ministry will change the rules.

The health and information & broadcasting ministries did not respond to queries. Netflix, Amazon and Ambani’s Viacom18 did not respond, while Disney declined to comment. The four were among many companies that attended the August 28 meeting.

Health activists have welcomed the new rules, saying tobacco kills 1.3-million people annually in India and due to the growing popularity of streaming platforms they must be treated on par with cinemas and TV, where all smoking and alcohol-drinking scenes require health warnings.

In 2013, Woody Allen stopped his film Blue Jasmine from being screened in India after learning mandatory anti-tobacco warnings would be inserted into its smoking scenes.

During the meeting, streaming firms supported the rules in spirit but highlighted implementation challenges. They committed to “displaying a disclaimer at the beginning” of content and no promotion of tobacco products on their platforms, the minutes read.

Reuters