Three prominent Indian ministries to regulate misleading digital ads; plan to create taskforce: Report

Three high-profile Indian ministries are collaborating to form an inter-ministerial taskforce with a goal is to combat misleading and fraudulent advertisements on digital platforms, as per a Mint report. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs are spearheading this initiative, the report stated, adding that the taskforce will create a comprehensive regulatory framework for monitoring social media advertisements, ensuring compliance, and penalising violators.

Currently, each ministry involved in the taskforce handles different aspects of social media advertising. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting oversees advertisement content, while the Ministry of Consumer Affairs supervises misleading content and surrogate advertisements. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology governs social media platforms. "By themselves, each of the three ministries is unable to take up all the social media advertising-related issues," it was said in the report, quoting people familiar with the matter.

The taskforce is expected to be operational by June, the Mint report stated. Its priority will be to define what constitutes misleading or fraudulent advertising, and identify companies involved in such practices. The taskforce may also draft laws specifically governing social media ads. Currently, these ads are regulated under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, along with guidelines from the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

Recently, the Supreme Court required all firms to submit a self-declaration for all advertisements across all media platforms. This decision was in response to a complaint against false medical claims made by Patanjali Ayurved. Companies must provide evidence of uploading this self-declaration to the broadcaster, publisher, printer, electronic media platform or TV channel, before their ads can go public. Non-compliance could lead to legal consequences, highlighting the seriousness of misleading advertising practices.

To this, ASCI has voiced concerns about implementing the Supreme Court's order due to the vast scale and scope of digital ads. "The requirement laid down by the Supreme Court of self-declarations for all advertisements on all media would indeed be a challenging one to implement given the scale and scope of advertisements, particularly on digital. Advertisers will need to incorporate this as part of their media release timelines. For local and hyper-local channels and press, as well as smaller platforms, the entire information mechanism will need to be incorporated as part of the technology offering. It will also be important to determine what will happen in the case of violations if they should occur despite self-declarations. We will await details from MIB on operationalizing this order," said Manisha Kapoor, chief executive officer and secretary-general, ASCI to Mint.

These concerns underscore the complexity of regulating digital advertising in a rapidly evolving landscape.

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