The Information & Broadcasting Ministry on August 25, through a fresh advisory, asked all the media entities, online advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms to immediately refrain from showing advertisements or any promotional content of online betting platforms in any form whatsoever, failing which they might attract appropriate legal action by the government.
The advisory has been issued ahead of the Asia Cup cricket league. The Ministry said there was a high chance of black money being used to pay for such advertisements. Besides, despite repeated advisories about the possible illegalities involved, certain media entities, including advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms, had been allowing direct and indirect advertisements of betting and gambling platforms during major sporting events, including cricket tournaments.
“It is also observed that there is a tendency to spike 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,” said the advisory addressed to all the newspapers registered under the Press and Registration of Books Act, private satellite television channels, publishers of news and current affairs content on digital media, online advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms.
The directive follows similar orders dated June 13, 2022, October 3, 2022, and April 6, 2023. They mention that betting and gambling are an illegal activity and therefore, advertisement or promotion of such activities directly or indirectly on any media platform falls foul of the various statutes, including under the Consumer Protection Act and the Press Council Act. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules also cautions against contents that are in the nature of advertisement or surrogate advertisement or promotion of an online game that is not permissible or any intermediary offering such an online game.
According to the advisory, the Central government has taken action against a network of agents who had collected substantial money from users of gambling apps and subsequently funneled the funds out of India. In this regard, the Ministry said the stakeholders should note that advertisements of gambling/betting platforms not only posed a significant financial and socio-economic risk for the consumers, especially the youth and children, but also had linkages to money laundering networks, thereby threatening the financial security of the country.
“As the nodal Ministry for the media industry in India, the Ministry advises all stakeholders, including the media entities, online advertisement intermediaries and social media platforms, to immediately refrain from showing such advertisements/promotional content in any form whatsoever, failing which the government would be constrained to take appropriate action under the various statutes,” it said.
