MIB issues advisory on ads of online betting platforms across media

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been issuing advisories from time to time for television, print and digital media, including social media platforms, to refrain from publishing and broadcasting advertisements of online betting platforms or any such product/ service depicting these platforms in a surrogate manner. The online advertisement intermediaries have also been advised not to target such ads towards the Indian audience. These advisories were issued by the MIB on June 13, 2022, October 3, 2022, and April 6, 2023.

These Advisories clearly mention that betting and gambling are illegal activities and hence, advertisements/ promotions of such 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, Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, etc.

In its latest advisory, the MIB also mentioned the Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council which, interalia, mentions that “newspapers should not publish an advertisement containing anything which is unlawful or illegal...........”, and further that “The newspapers and periodicals should scrutinize the advertisement inputs from ethical as well as legal angles in view of the editor’s responsibility for all contents, including advertisement, under Section 7 of PRB Act, 1867. Revenue generation alone cannot and should not be the sole aim of the Press, juxtaposed much larger public responsibility”.

The MIB further said that despite its very clear position, the Ministry has been informed of recent instances where news publishers, including mainstream English and Hindi newspapers, have published/ printed advertisements/ promotional content of betting sites/ platforms, which are clearly violative of the statutes and the various norms/ guidelines issued thereunder, as also goes against the very spirit of the advisory issued by MIB. It is also noticed that some of the news publishers have carried advertisements of a betting platform in which the audience are being encouraged to watch a sports league on its platform, which prima facie appears to be a case of piracy of content and violative of the Copyright Act, 1957.

The Ministry has taken strong exception to such practices and has urged all stakeholders, including the media platforms and the various online advertisement intermediaries, to immediately refrain from showing such advertisements/ promotional content in any form whatsoever. “In the event news publishers, etc., are found to be not adhering to the aforementioned Advisory, the Government would be constrained to take appropriate action under the various statutes,” the MIB warned in its latest advisory.