The government on Thursday cautioned media organisations against carrying advertisements of betting platforms, days after mainstream English and Hindi newspapers carried such promotional content.
The Union ministry of information and broadcasting has taken strong exception to the recent instances of mainstream English and Hindi newspapers carrying advertisements and promotional content of betting websites.
In an advisory, the ministry advised media entities, media platforms and the online advertisement intermediaries to refrain from carrying advertisements or promotional content of betting platforms.
An official statement said 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 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 appears to be in violation of the Copyright Act, 1957.
The advisory noted 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.”
