The Union Health Ministry on World No Tobacco Day issued a notice regarding the display of anti-tobacco warnings and disclaimers on over-the-top(OTT) platforms.
Government has made it compulsory for the OTT platforms to spread awareness message by audio-visual and also by displaying the anti-tobacco health spots and their ill-effects of a minimum of 30 sec one at the starting and other during the mid of a programme.
“The anti-tobacco health warning message as specified in clause (b) of sub-rule (1) shall be legible and readable, with font in black colour on white background and with the warnings ‘tobacco causes cancer’ or ‘tobacco kills’,” the notification stated.
“OTT platforms shall also be required to exhibit an anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen when tobacco products or their use are displayed during a programme. An audio-visual disclaimer of a minimum of 20 seconds on the ill-effects of tobacco use will have to be displayed at the beginning and middle of a programme,” the rules say.
