India has ordered the blocking of 25 continuous flow services – many with millions of spectators and even paying subscribers – to promote “indecent” content in one of the largest digital repressions in South Asia. The order affects less well -known but highly popular services such as Ullu and Alt that cover the appetite of the country’s mass market for adults and intense entertainment.
This week, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued instructions to prevent access to sites and applications linked to 25 continuous flow services, stating the provisions of the Law on Information Technology of 2000 and 2021 Informatics Rules, Techcrunch learned.
The mandate came months after the National Commission to protect children’s rights and a parliamentary permanent committee on information technology raised concerns about the mature content transmitted to these platforms without sufficient safeguards.
The Indian government has contacted Internet Service providers and app stores, including Google Play and Apple App Store, earlier this week to limit these streaming services, a source on the issue at Techcrunch said.
Some of these services, especially the most important with millions of subscribers, remained alive at the time of submitting this article.
Google and Apple did not respond to comments for comments. The Minister of Information and broadcast also did not respond to an email sent on Friday.
Of the 25 flow services, 10 offer in -app purchases through their Google Play and App Store applications, creating a cumulative $ 5.7 million since starting with about 105 million downloads, according to Appfigures they share exclusively with Techcrunch. The wide gap between markets and in-application downloads is mainly due to the low cost of subscription-significantly lower than Netflix and other global platforms in India.
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Specifically, some of these continuous flow services were never listed in traditional application stores or had been removed earlier and instead offered their applications as direct APK shooting. Since the publication, some of these APK files were still accessible through their websites or third -party platforms.
Earlier this month, Indian production company Balaji Telefilms, Alt’s parent, manifest That its streaming application created 202.6 million ($ 2.3 million) to revenue adding 1.06 million subscribers in 2025. Alt’s content was watched for more than 5.8 million hours, raising 160 million annual views, the company said.
The Alt application was no longer available for download through Google Play and the App Store in India and its website was inaccessible to most Indian ISPs at the time of submitting this article.
Balaji Telefilms did not respond to a request for comments on the ban.
Ullu, another relatively prominent continuous flow service named by the Indian Government, remained available through its implementation to the Indian toy store and its website was also accessible. However, the iOS application was not available for download from the Indian App Store.
Ullu Digital, Ullu’s parent company, reported a net profit of $ 212.3 million ($ 2.5 million) for the financial year 2024, according to its regulatory deposition examined by TechCrunch. The company published revenue of $ 931.4 million ($ 11 million) and declared net value of $ 2.08 billion ($ 24 million).
Ullu Digital did not respond to requests for comments.
Along with millions of dollars in subscription revenue, these continuous flow services also attract millions of global visits to their websites.
Ullu saw nearly 10% on a yearly basis in world circulation, reaching 1.9 million visits in June, while Alt recorded over 130% increase to 776,400 per similarweb.
In India, Ullu recorded an increase of 18.9% annually, reaching 1.8 million visits, while Alt saw a 157.8% increase in 696.200 visits, show similar data.
It is important, this is not the first time the flow business has I saw a repression In India. World platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, often face cases of censorship by the Indian government.
However, even stricter actions are observed in cases of obscenity despite the lack of clarity of regulations, as it monitors the explicit content with fully consensual interactions between adult actors in a private space. is not a crime.
In 2023, the then Indian Intelligence Minister Broadcasting warned streaming platforms not to serve abusive and obscene content. New Delhi has also blocked Thousands of sites transmitting pornographic content. In a call to regulate sexually explicit content in April of this year, the Supreme Court of India alerts issued on flow platforms and the Indian government.
This is what the content of obscene content remains a challenge even for the Indian government. Smaller flow services – such as those aimed at this repression – often reappear with new names, applications and areas. It is just as difficult for intermediaries such as Google, Apple and Internet providers to completely prevent access, as these platforms often spread through alternative channels and use social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube to attract viewers.
