CCPA issues advisory warning celebrities for promoting gambling apps

Consumer watchdog CCPA's advisory, warning celebrities and influencers to refrain from promoting betting and gambling firms, will help in distinguishing genuine platforms from illegal entities, gaming industry body AIGF said on Wednesday.

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) warned all stakeholders that stringent action would be taken for endorsements of illegal activities, including betting and gambling.

"In response to increasing instances of advertisements promoting illegal activities such as betting and gambling, the CCPA has issued a comprehensive advisory," an official statement said.

The advisory, in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, has emphasised the prohibition of advertising, promotion, and endorsement of unlawful activities that are prohibited under various laws.

"Betting and gambling are strictly prohibited under the Public Gambling Act, 1867, and are considered illegal in the majority of regions across the country. Despite this, online betting platforms and apps persist in advertising betting and gambling directly, as well as under the guise of gaming," CCPA said.

The watchdog pointed out that the endorsements of such activities have considerable financial and socio-economic implications, especially for the youth.

The advisory underscores the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s efforts in issuing various advisories to media platforms, cautioning them against publicising betting and gambling platforms.

"Online advertisement intermediaries have also been warned against targeting such advertisements toward the Indian audience," the statement said.

The advisory highlighted that the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022, categorically prohibit advertisements of products or services prohibited under any prevailing law.

"...the guidelines apply to all advertisements, irrespective of the medium used and warns celebrities and influencers that any engagement in the promotion or advertisement of online gambling and betting, given its unlawful status, renders one equally liable for participating in an illegal activity," the CCPA said.

"If any violation of the guidelines is found, stringent measures, as per the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, will be initiated against (those) involved, including manufacturers, advertisers, publishers, intermediaries, social media platforms, endorsers, and any other relevant stakeholders," the statement said.

AIGF CEO, Roland Landers, said in a statement, "We are grateful to the Government for taking such a decisive step against anti-national illegal offshore gambling websites, which have been advertising in India in the garb of surrogate news and sports websites. This will help distinguish legitimate Indian online skill gaming operators, which provide the highest player protection measures and are a form of entertainment against these illegal gambling sites which are the main reason for widespread consumer harm and problems.”

"AIGF has been highlighting this menace since 2018, and has been constantly taking up these issues with various Central Ministries and also providing evidence of uninterrupted advertising on major Indian OTT, satellite channels, newspapers and as sponsors in multiple Indian sports leagues. We will continue to monitor this and report any infraction to the government," Landers said.

"We hope that unlike earlier the TV networks, OTTs and news publishers will take this advisory seriously and not support these anti-national websites and give them prime-time airspace," he added.

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