The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday has issued a warning to media organisations, media platforms, and the online advertisement intermediaries to refrain from carrying advertisements and promotional content of betting platforms.
In an Advisory issued on Thursday, the Ministry has taken strong exception to the recent instances of mainstream English and Hindi newspapers carrying advertisements and promotional content of betting websites.
The Advisory has been issued to all media formats, including newspapers, television channels, and online news publishers, and showed specific examples where such advertisements have appeared in the media in recent times.
The Advisory provided particular examples of recent instances of these advertisements in the media and was distributed to all media formats, including newspapers, television networks, and internet news publishers.
The Ministry has also taken issue with a particular betting platform’s promotion urging website visitors to watch a sports league, which on the surface looks to be a breach of the Copyright Act of 1957.
While emphasizing on the legal obligation as well as the moral duty of the media, the Advisory refers to provisions of the Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council which, among other things, 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 The Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. Revenue generation alone cannot and should not be the sole aim of the Press, juxtaposed with much larger public responsibility”.
The Consumer Protection Act of 2019, the Press Council Act of 1978, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021, and other pertinent laws prohibit the direct or indirect promotion of gambling and betting. The Ministry had previously issued advisories in the months of June and October 2022 stating the same.