Ullu, ALTT And 23 Other OTT Apps Banned In India For Obscene Content

The Min­istry of Infor­ma­tion & Broad­cast­ing (MIB) has ordered Inter­net Ser­vice Providers to block over-the-top (OTT) apps and their web­sites after find­ing them in “seri­ous vio­la­tion” of Indi­an obscen­i­ty and IT laws. Flag­ship names on the list include Ullu, ALTT (ALT­Bal­a­ji), Big Shots and Desi­flix.

Author­i­ties said the plat­forms repeat­ed­ly streamed “soft-porn” web series with­out age gates, flout­ed self-reg­u­la­tion norms under the IT Rules 2021 and breached Sec­tions 67/67A of the IT Act as well as Sec­tion 294 of the Bharatiya Nyaya San­hi­ta. The crack­down, finalised on 23 July 2025 and announced on 25 July, aims to stop easy access to explic­it material—particularly for minors—and to rein­force con­tent mod­er­a­tion duties imposed on dig­i­tal pub­lish­ers.

Why The Ban Was Imposed

• Unlaw­ful con­tent: Inves­ti­ga­tors found episodes dom­i­nat­ed by “explic­it sex­u­al acts and nudi­ty” with lit­tle or no sto­ry­line, vio­lat­ing decen­cy stan­dards.
• Repeat­ed warn­ings ignored: Many of the ser­vices removed flagged shows tem­porar­i­ly, then re-uploaded unedit­ed ver­sions, “cir­cum­vent­ing the warn­ings,” offi­cials told the media.

Union min­is­ter Ash­wi­ni Vaish­naw recent­ly told Par­lia­ment that stronger edi­to­r­i­al checks are need­ed as “dig­i­tal free­dom can­not be a licence for vul­gar­i­ty,” sig­nalling more enforce­ment is com­ing.

Full List Of 25 Blocked Apps

#	OTT App	#	OTT App
1	ALTT	14	Feneo
2	Ullu	15	ShowX
3	Big Shots App	16	Sol Talkies
4	Desi­flix	17	Adda TV
5	Boomex	18	HotX VIP
6	Navarasa Lite	19	Hulchul App
7	Gulab App	20	MoodX
8	Kan­gan App	21	NeonX VIP
9	Bull App	22	ShowHit
10	Jal­va App	23	Fugi
11	Wow Enter­tain­ment	24	Mojflix
12	Look Enter­tain­ment	25	Tri­flicks
13	Hit­prime

(All plat­forms above are now inac­ces­si­ble via Indi­an ISPs fol­low­ing MIB’s direc­tive issued under the IT Rules 2021.)

What Happens Next?

1. Imme­di­ate take­down: ISPs have start­ed geo-block­ing the list­ed domains and remov­ing the apps from Indi­an app stores.
2. Pos­si­ble legal action: The Del­hi Police Cyber Cell has been sent the block­ing orders for fur­ther inves­ti­ga­tion; pro­pri­etors could face fines or jail if pros­e­cut­ed under Sec­tion 67A (up to 5 years’ impris­on­ment).
3. Indus­try impact: Legit­i­mate OTT play­ers may see a boost in traf­fic but will also face stricter scruti­ny over age rat­ings and parental con­trols.
4. User lia­bil­i­ty: Stream­ing or dis­trib­ut­ing mir­ror links of these ser­vices can attract pros­e­cu­tion for aid­ing cir­cu­la­tion of unlaw­ful con­tent under the IT Act.

Legal and Regulatory Foundations

1. IT Act Pro­vi­sions
   • Sec­tions 67 and 67A: Pro­hib­it trans­mis­sion of obscene or sex­u­al­ly explic­it mate­r­i­al.
   • Sec­tion 79(3)(b): Strips inter­me­di­aries of safe-har­bour pro­tec­tion if they fail to remove unlaw­ful con­tent post-noti­fi­ca­tion.
   • Sec­tion 4, Inde­cent Rep­re­sen­ta­tion of Women (Pro­hi­bi­tion) Act, 1986: For­bids por­tray­al of women in an inde­cent man­ner.
2. IT Rules, 2021 (Inter­me­di­ary Guide­lines & Dig­i­tal Media Ethics Code)
   • Self-Clas­si­fi­ca­tion: Plat­forms must label con­tent into U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+ or A cat­e­gories and enforce age ver­i­fi­ca­tion for adult mate­r­i­al.
   • Griev­ance Redres­sal: A three-tier mechanism—from plat­form-lev­el to gov­ern­ment-appoint­ed oversight—for time­ly take­downs with­in 24 hours of com­plaints.
   • Record-Keep­ing & Com­pli­ance: Retain user records for 180 days and pro­vide infor­ma­tion to author­i­ties with­in 72 hours when request­ed.
3. Con­sul­ta­tive Process
   The ban fol­lowed inter-min­is­te­r­i­al con­sul­ta­tion involv­ing:
   • Min­istry of Home Affairs (MHA)
   • Min­istry of Women & Child Devel­op­ment (MWCD)
   • Min­istry of Elec­tron­ics & IT (MeitY)
   • Depart­ment of Legal Affairs (DoLA)
   • Indus­try bod­ies FICCI and CII
   • Experts on women’s and child rights.

Triggering Events and Key Examples

• Repeat­ed Non-Com­pli­ance: MIB had issued warn­ings and notices as ear­ly as Sep­tem­ber 2024 to these plat­forms. Despite this, many re-uploaded unedit­ed con­tent after tem­po­rary take­downs, “cir­cum­vent­ing” direc­tives.
• House Arrest Con­tro­ver­sy: ULLU’s web series host­ed by Bigg Boss alum­nus Ajaz Khan drew police action under Sec­tions 67/67A of the IT Act and Sec­tion 4 of the IRWA Act after explic­it scenes prompt­ed pub­lic out­rage, lead­ing to its removal in May 2025.

Enforcement and Immediate Consequences

• Geo-Block­ing & App Store Removal
  ISPs have begun dis­abling domain access; Google Play Store and Apple App Store have delist­ed nine and five apps respec­tive­ly by end-of-day July 25, 2025.
• Legal Inves­ti­ga­tions
  Block­ing orders for­ward­ed to the Del­hi Police Cyber Cell for poten­tial pros­e­cu­tion. Offend­ers face up to five years’ impris­on­ment and fines under Sec­tion 67A of the IT Act.
• Indus­try Rip­ple Effects
  • Short Term: Legit­i­mate OTT plat­forms (e.g., Net­flix, Ama­zon Prime Video) may see traf­fic gains.
  • Long Term: Height­ened scruti­ny on age-gates, con­tent clas­si­fi­ca­tion, and griev­ance redres­sal com­pli­ance across all stream­ing ser­vices.

Stakeholder Reactions

• Pub­lic & Civ­il Soci­ety
  Many applaud­ed deci­sive action to curb minors’ expo­sure to “soft-porn” con­tent, while some dig­i­tal-rights advo­cates urged for bal­anced reg­u­la­tion over out­right bans, sug­gest­ing robust age ver­i­fi­ca­tion rather than plat­form black­outs.
• Indus­try Bod­ies
  FICCI and CII have expressed sup­port for uni­form con­tent stan­dards, but rec­om­mend­ed clear­er guide­lines to avoid over-cen­sor­ship and pro­tect cre­ative free­dom.

Bottom Line

The ban on Ullu, ALTT and 23 oth­er OTT apps marks the tough­est dig­i­tal-con­tent crack­down since the IT Rules 2021 took effect. With the gov­ern­ment sig­nalling addi­tion­al over­sight, stream­ing plat­forms that ignore the Code of Ethics now risk swift nation­wide black­out and legal penal­ties