The government on Thursday instructed OTT services to strictly follow the ethical code in the wake of the filthy joke controversy on the now-cancelled "India's Got Latent" show, following the Supreme Court's advocacy for the control of obscene content on YouTube.

To ensure strict adherence to Indian laws and the Code of Ethics outlined in the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media, Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting issued an advisory to online curated content publishers and self-regulatory bodies of over-the-top (OTT) platforms.

Kanchan Gupta, Senior Advisor to the I&B Ministry, posted on X. "The Ministry has received references from Hon'ble Members of Parliament, representation from statutory organisations and public grievances regarding alleged spread of obscene, pornographic and vulgar content published by certain publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms) and social media," said a notice issued by the I&B Ministry while mentioning that the Code of Ethics requires OTT platform not to transmit any content which is prohibited by law.

The Centre's action followed the high court's emphasis on Tuesday that "something had to be done" and that YouTubers were abusing the absence of regulations on online platforms. The Supreme Court made this observation while hearing YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia's plea to merge multiple FIRs filed against him. These FIRs were related to an inappropriate joke he made on comedian Samay Raina's show, India's Got Latent, which was streamed online. A major controversy broke out after Allahbadia made an inappropriate joke while questioning a contestant on a YouTube show. "Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life or join in once to make it stop forever?" The joke did not sit well with the public and sparked a nationwide debate on regulating such content on online platforms.

Allahbadia has subsequently apologised and the show has been taken down from YouTube. He said that his remarks were "not just inappropriate, it wasn't even funny". "Comedy is not my forte. I'm just here to say sorry," he said. Three FIRs have been filed against Allahbadia so far—one in Assam, another in Mumbai, and the latest in Jaipur on Monday. According to the Mumbai and Guwahati Police, the popular influencer has been "continuously out of contact."