Govt issues advisory against betting advertisements in newspapers and other media platforms

Days after major English and Hindi language newspapers ran advertisements for betting platforms, the government on Thursday warned media organisations against running adverts for such betting platforms.

The recent incident of mainstream English and Hindi newspapers publishing advertising and other content promoting gambling websites has drawn heavy criticism from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The ministry issued an advisory and urged media organisations, media platforms, and online advertisement intermediaries to forgo running betting platform commercials or promotional content.

An official statement said the advisory had 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 ministry also objected to the promotion by a specific betting platform encouraging the audience to watch a sports league on its website that prima facie violates the Copyright Act 1957.

The advisory stated that the provisions of the Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India mention that "newspapers should not publish an advertisement containing anything which is unlawful or illegal".

"The newspapers and periodicals should scrutinise 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," it said, quoting the Norms of Journalistic Conduct.

According to the advisories issued last year by the ministry, betting and gambling were illegal and hence, direct or surrogate advertisements of such activities fall foul of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Press Council Act, 1978, Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and other relevant statutes.