Netflix, Amazon, Disney-backed group protests India’s tobacco rules: Report

A letter seen by Reuters showed that an Indian group representing Netflix, Amazon and Disney told the government that the new warning rules on tobacco were impossible to implement for the streaming giants and would infringe on the freedom of expression of content creators.

As part of India’s anti-tobacco campaign, the health ministry last month ordered streaming platforms to introduce fixed health warnings during smoking scenes within three months. Also, India wants at least 50 seconds of disclaimers on tobacco control, including audio and video, at the beginning and middle of every program.

The three companies, and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s streaming platform JioCinema, were recently part of a private debate to consider options for response, including a legal challenge, as executives expressed concern that the rules would require unblocking millions of hours of Indian and Hollywood content.

The letter from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) states that the amount of multilingual content on the platforms is “very high… there is a practical impossibility associated with including such warnings across the content”.

The letter said IAMAI had asked the health ministry to reconsider the “onerous” rules, saying a survey showed viewers were indifferent to depictions of smoking on streaming platforms.

Netflix declined to comment, while IAMAI and the other companies did not immediately respond. The Ministry of Health also did not respond.

Besides Hollywood content, streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and JioCinema are also becoming increasingly popular in India. Popular Indian content starring Bollywood actors on such platforms includes smoking scenes.

Activists welcomed India’s new rules, saying they will discourage smoking in a country where tobacco kills 1.3 million people each year.

IAMAI said the companies believed content description tools — which warn users with a “smoking” tag in a video next to their title at the start — were more effective.

The group said the “disruptions” caused by the warnings were “problematic for creators who have made significant investments”.

All scenes of smoking and drinking in films in cinemas and television in India, by law, require health warnings, but there are no regulations for the streaming giants yet.

In 2013, Woody Allen stopped showing his movie, Blue Jasmine, in India after learning that mandatory anti-tobacco warnings would be included in smoking scenes.

Sanjay Seth of the non-profit Sambandh Health Foundation said there should be no difference how smoking is discouraged in cinemas and on digital platforms.

“They should do this,” Seth said. “It will save lives.”