From The Social Dilemma to Harshad Mehta, here’s what Prakash Javadekar likes to watch on OTT

A day after the Center released new guidelines to regulate social media, digital news media and over-the-top content (OTT) providers, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar shared details of what he likes to consume on OTT platforms.

Speaking to India Today TV News director Rahul Kanwal in an exclusive interview, Javadekar, who is a film and music lover, said he enjoys biographies and content based on contemporary issues. Javadekar also said he follows films about the world war closely. He recently watched The Social Dilemma, a Netflix documentary that explores the damaging side of popular social media sites.

“The old guys at Google told a very relevant story about how social media is invading our time. It tells us what the pros and cons of social media are,” Javadekar said.

The Social Dilemma is a 2020 American docu-drama that features interviews with several former employees, executives, and other professionals from top tech companies and social media platforms like Google, Facebook, and Apple.

Javadekar has also watched documentaries like The Final Year – which is a 2007 chronicle of former US President Barack Obama’s last year in office. He also watched Becoming – a 2020 documentary that features footage of Michelle Obama’s travel, talk shows, and work during her tenure as First Lady.

The Union Minister also said that he has watched 10 episodes of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story – a dramatic documentary series based on a 1992 Indian stock market scam committed by numerous stock brokers including Harshad Mehta.

The Center on Thursday released guidelines to regulate social media, digital news media and OTT providers, citing Supreme Court guidelines and concerns raised in parliament over social media abuse .

Javadekar, in the interview, made a strong plea to regulate digital content produced by various new media platforms, including social media and OTT companies.

Javadekar said: “As a sovereign government, we have not brought in any new laws, the existing provisions give us the power.” He defended the criticism of the regulation and added that people liked it.

The “digital media interim guidelines and code of ethics” that the government released on Thursday are aimed at tackling any misuse of social media platforms, the government said. While the new rules will be governed by the Ministry of Informatics, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will be the governing body of rules regarding streaming platforms. The draft rules also provided for a “classification rating” to describe content and advise discretion.