India Proposes Comprehensive Age Rating System for Digital Content in Draft IT Rules
The Indian government is moving forward with significant regulatory changes for the digital content landscape. According to sources, the Centre is preparing to introduce draft rules that would mandate age-based classification for all digital content available online. This initiative aims to address growing concerns about obscenity, violence, and inappropriate material accessible through various digital platforms.
Key Provisions of the Draft IT (Digital Code) Rules, 2026
The proposed regulations, known as the draft IT (Digital Code) Rules, 2026, have been developed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry under Section 87(1) of the IT Act, 2000. These rules would require all digital content to carry prominent age suitability labels and content descriptors at the beginning of each piece of content. The classification system would include categories such as:
- 'U' for universal viewing suitable for all ages
- 7+ for content appropriate for children aged seven and above
- 13+ for teenage audiences
- 16+ for older teenagers
- Adult-only content requiring age verification
- Special categories for professionals like doctors or scientists
The draft rules specifically mandate classification based on themes and messages including violence, obscenity, nudity, sexual content, language, drugs, and horror elements.
Comprehensive List of Content Restrictions
Beyond the age rating system, the draft code establishes clear boundaries for what constitutes unacceptable digital content. According to the proposed regulations, digital content shall not:
- Offend against good taste or decency
- Deride any race, caste, colour, creed, or nationality
- Contain attacks on religions or communities, or visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups
- Include anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false, suggestive innuendos, or half-truths
- Tend to incite people to crime, cause disorder or violence, or breach of law
- Present violence, obscenity, or criminality as desirable
- Represent indecent, vulgar, suggestive, repulsive, or offensive themes
- Criticise, malign, or slander any individual or certain groups in the country's social, public, and moral life
- Contain visuals or words reflecting a slandering, ironical, or snobbish attitude toward certain ethnic, linguistic, and regional groups
- Denigrate women through objectification or perpetuation of harmful stereotypes
- Denigrate children or persons with disabilities
- Contain bad language or explicit scenes of violence in content meant for children
The draft defines obscene content as material that is "lascivious, or appeals to the prurient interest, or if its effect tends to deprave and corrupt persons."
Parental Controls and Age Verification Requirements
The proposed rules include specific technical requirements for digital platforms. Content rated U/A 13+ or higher must incorporate parental control mechanisms, while adult-only content would require implementation of reliable age verification systems. These provisions aim to ensure that viewers, particularly children and teenagers, are protected from inappropriate material while maintaining access to content suitable for their age group.
Legal Context and Supreme Court Involvement
This regulatory initiative comes in response to a Supreme Court directive from March of last year. The court had asked the Solicitor General to draft proposals that would safeguard free speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution while ensuring constitutionally permissible "reasonable restrictions" under Article 19(2). The court's involvement was prompted by public backlash against social media influencers Ranveer Allahbadia and Samay Raina over their comments, with the case scheduled for hearing on January 29.
An I&B Ministry spokesperson confirmed that the ministry is "preparing a draft code as per the court's directions, which will be shared for public consultation once it is finalised."
Industry Concerns and Regulatory Uncertainty
The proposed rules have raised significant concerns among content creators and digital platform operators. Industry sources express worry about potential arbitrary and widespread complaints under the new system. There are particular concerns about the proposed strategy of amending IT Rules to introduce "civil consequences" for obscenity on Online Curated Content Providers (OCCPs), which some fear could undo years of "nuanced legal distinction" between linear broadcast and on-demand digital streaming.
Sources point out that when the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code were issued in 2021, the ministry had rejected adopting the Programme Code for OCCP platforms, acknowledging fundamental technological differences between traditional broadcast and digital streaming services.
"This inexplicable U-turn contradicts the government's broader mandate of ensuring certainty, predictability, and continuity in policy-making," said an industry source. "By reversing its own understanding without cause, the ministry is injecting unnecessary regulatory uncertainty into a thriving sector."
Technological Considerations and Viewer Agency
Industry representatives argue that the digital ecosystem already incorporates numerous safeguards, including age-gating mechanisms, content descriptors, parental locks, and curation tools that allow adults to make informed choices. They emphasize the fundamental difference between the "pull" nature of OCCPs, where content is accessed by choice, and the "push" nature of linear television, which is broadcast into homes uninvited.
"Applying the analogue broadcast-era 'obscenity' standard, originally designed for family living rooms of the 1990s, to a password-protected, age-gated, on-demand environment is a regression," a source commented. "It ignores the agency of the viewer and the technological safeguards inherent to OTT platforms."
Distinction Between Content Types
Sources further note that the upcoming Supreme Court hearing was largely precipitated by concerns over insensitive and unregulated content on User Generated Content (UGC) platforms like YouTube. They suggest it would have been more appropriate to clarify to the Court that the core issue relates to such content rather than curated content from professional OCCPs.
"It was pertinent for the ministry to explain the distinct frameworks required for different stakeholders — OCCPs, news publishers, and UGC platforms," the source added.
Implementation and Future Steps
All provisions of the existing IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, would continue to apply alongside these new regulations. The draft rules appear to borrow significantly from the Programme Code under the Cable TV Network Rules, 1994, adapting traditional broadcast regulations for the digital age.
As the government moves forward with this regulatory framework, stakeholders across the digital content industry await further details and the opportunity for public consultation. The balance between protecting viewers, particularly vulnerable groups, and maintaining creative freedom in India's rapidly growing digital content sector remains a central challenge in this regulatory initiative.
