Health Ministry makes tobacco warning mandatory at opening, middle of OTT shows
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New Delhi: Soon the OTT platforms will run a health warning on tobacco at the beginning and the middle of a streaming content.
The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday made anti-tobacco warning mandatory for OTT platform in the wake of platforms’ increasing popularity among youngsters.
The announcement comes on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day directing the guidelines to be effect in three months.
The guidelines say that OTT platforms have to run anti-tobacco health spots for a minimum thirty seconds each at the beginning and middle of the content that displays tobacco products or their use.
There should be a static message when the product or its use is shown, The Indian Express reported citing the guidelines.
It is also made mandatory for the platforms to show an ‘audio-visual disclaimer’ of twenty seconds each on tobacco use at the beginning and middle of the programme.
The content streamed is banned from showing brands of cigarettes or other tobacco products.
The ban also covers display of tobacco products or their use in promotional materials.
‘It is time to create wide awareness among youth and the nation regarding the seriously debilitating and harmful effects of tobacco consumption,’ Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya reportedly told an event on World No Tobacco Day.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said tobacco consumption claims nearly 13.5 lakh deaths annually in the country.