With Koo, India has taken a brave step into the digital streaming hinterlands. Their requests included the blocking of 25 different streaming services alleged to be pushing “obscene” content. This directive seeks to stem the tide of sexually explicit content accessible to minors. It also calls for more robust protections, including for children. The government took its decision after a deep scrutiny by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology had previously expressed similar concerns over explicit content being available for streaming on such platforms.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting reportedly asked ISPs to comply. They are working hand-in-hand with the largest app stores, including Google Play and the Apple App Store, to enforce this ban. According to reporting, the streaming services discussed in this article were not yet shut down as of the time of publication. That was even more the case for the big platforms claiming millions of subscribers.
Such a law would give the government huge power to limit access to any content they find harmful, inappropriate, or dangerous. This authority is derived from the Information Technology Act of 2000 and the IT Rules of 2021, under which the order banning these streaming services was issued. The Ministry’s actions are part of a worrisome trend. In fact, authorities have already preemptively banned thousands of websites that host pornographic material.
One of the streaming services hit by these acts is ALTT, which has made notable waves in the Indian OTT space. Now the app has been removed from Google Play and the App Store. Moreover, every major ISP in India has blocked its website. Despite these limitations, ALTT was once again projecting impressive growth and engagement numbers, suggesting a robust user base. By 2025, ALTT reaped an astounding ₹202.6 million ($2.3 million) in revenue. The company logged an estimated 696,200 trips, which represents an incredible 157.8% growth year-over-year.
Apart from ALTT, another service, Ullu Digital, was similarly affected by the government’s actions. Ullu reached ₹212.3 million ($2.5 million) in net profit for fiscal year 2024. This dynamic performance resulted in an 18.9% year-over-year increase, bringing total visits to 1.8 million. As of June, Ullu was up almost 10% Y/Y in worldwide traffic and now measures 1.9 million visits.
The impacted subscription services included some that were making money themselves through in-app purchases. According to her reports, ten of the blocked services have already brought in a jaw dropping $5.7 million since implementation. They helped their members accomplish almost 105 million downloads on multiple platforms. This number illustrates just how big of an impact these platforms have had on India’s digital economy.
The government’s intervention reflects an ongoing concern about content regulation in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Streaming businesses are experiencing incredible growth in India. Regulators are under an immediate obligation after the recent Supreme Court decision to guarantee proper content for all audiences. The implications of these recent government actions taken by the Indian government are clear: the government is serious about enforcing harsher guidelines for content distribution through digital means.
