Govt warns media platforms against airing betting ads, promises action against offenders

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has advised all its stakeholders, including the media entities, online advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms, to immediately refrain from showing advertisements or any such promotional content on betting or gambling in any form as it declares the same ‘illegal’ and action can be taken under the law against the offenders.

It also added that the failure to adhere to this advisory may invite appropriate action from the government under various statutes.

The I&B Ministry has observed in the advisory that “there is a tendency to step up advertisements and promotion of such betting and gambling platforms during a major sporting event, especially cricket, and one such important international event is beginning in a few days from now.”

The advisory appears to be referring to the upcoming India vs Pakistan ODI cricket match to be held on September 2 as part of the Asia Cup series and another IND vs PAK encounter during the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup in India. The Ministry has cited the recent central government action against a network of agents who had collected substantial money from users of gambling apps that had subsequently channelled the funds out of India. This goes to show that advertisements of gambling or betting on platforms pose a significant financial and socio-economic risk for the consumers, especially the youth and children.

The I&B Ministry further stated that this mechanism has linkages to wide money laundering networks, thereby threatening the financial and national security of the country. The Ministry stated in their advisory that along with these illegalities, it is also highly likely that a huge amount of black money is used to pay for such advertisements. To that end, the Ministry has noted that certain media entities, including advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms, have been allowing direct and indirect advertisements of betting and gambling platforms during major sporting events, including cricket tournaments. It has issued advisories to warn media platforms against publicizing such betting/gambling platforms. The online advertisement intermediaries have also been advised not to direct such advertisements towards the Indian audience.

The advisory also said that betting ads can be harmful to consumers, especially young people. It said that such ads can encourage people to gamble, which can lead to financial and emotional problems.

The warning from the government comes ahead of the Asia Cup and Cricket World Cup, which are both major sporting events that are likely to attract a lot of betting activity. The government is concerned that betting ads could be seen by young people during these events, and that this could encourage them to gamble.

Such advisories were issued by the Ministry earlier as well stating that betting and gambling were illegal activities and hence advertisements/promotion of these activities directly or indirectly on any of the media platforms falls foul of the various statutes, including under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Press Council Act 1978, etc.

Digital Media Ethics Code

Furthermore, the recently amended Rule 3 (1) (b) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 provides that intermediaries shall make reasonable efforts by themselves, and to cause the users of its computer resource to not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share any information that “is in the nature of an online game that is not verified as a permissible online game; (x) is in the nature of advertisement or surrogate advertisement or promotion of an online game that is not a permissible online game, or of any online gaming intermediary offering such an online game;”.

Please, also have a look into : https://www.thetatva.in/governance/govt-warns-media-platforms/16305/