RSS wants regulation for streaming platforms and cryptocurrency

The right-wing Hindutva group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) believes regulation was essential for streaming platforms and cryptocurrencies. In recent years, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have faced backlash and lawsuits for content, which has been regarded as offensive and inflammatory to the majority Hindu population.

“There is need to regularize these things for the larger good of the society,” Mohan Bhagwat, head of RSS, said. “A currency like Bitcoin, I don’t think which country controls it or which rules govern it. The government should do it. It has to do it.”

In September, The Organizer a journal affiliated with RSS published an article by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal. The article stated that while the basic purpose of currency was to facilitate transactions, cryptocurrencies were seen more as an asset class having storage value instead of a medium of exchange.

“This is because of the regulatory gaps at present. Recent developments show that the time has come to fill up this gap as soon as possible,” Agarwal said and cited media reports to claim that the cryptocurrency market in India was currently valued at $1.4 billion with investments from nearly 80 lakh people.

The article highlighted that the whole ecosystem is operating in an unregulated regime, neither being illegal with markets ripe with speculation that the government is ready to ban them at any point of time in the near future. The investors and the intermediaries operate in an uncertain environment and live-in anxiety, leading to hyper speculation.

However, the BJP spokesperson also backed blockchain technology, saying that its right integration with digital currencies could help revolution the business ecosystem in India. “There is no doubt that these currencies are beneficial, but the question is the choice – private currencies or central bank-promoted digital currencies.

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In regards to streaming platforms, Bhagwat said OTT platforms enabled unregulated broadcasts of varied material for everyone’s indiscriminate consumption. He pointed out that the absence of prudence and a regulatory framework made it hard to predict the extent of damage, especially to children.