Netflix, Amazon and Disney are planning to take legal action to suspend new rules in India over the need for warnings about the dangers of tobacco. Streaming giants fear having to edit millions of hours of content Reuters.
It was noted that the Ministry of Health of India ordered broadcasters within three months to end the dangers of smoking in each of these scenes. In addition, country authorities require broadcasters to add at least 50 seconds of anti-smoking warnings (including audio-visual) in the middle of each program.
The companies said they won’t be able to edit all the content within three months. Sector representatives decided to apply to lawyers to solve this problem in court. In addition, director Dylan Mohan Gray likened the new rules to “harassment”, emphasizing that murders, wars and violent scenes of violence are not regulated in the same way.
By Indian law, movies must have an appropriate warning label next to all scenes of tobacco and alcohol consumption. However, previously these rules were designed for local cinemas and televisions and did not affect the broadcast stream. In 2013, director Woody Allen suspended the screening of his movie Jasmine when Indian authorities demanded that anti-smoking warnings be added.