Alcohol, real money gaming ads on Meta platform in India from Aug 27

Meta on Tuesday announced that it will allow alcohol and real money gaming companies to advertise in India, APAC and LATAM, as per industry sources. From August 27, 2024 onwards, WhatsApp Business Platform can be onboarded by businesses in India for sending out messages related to alcohol, real money gambling as well as over-the-counter products.

It remains to be seen what the Government’s reaction will be since alcohol ads are banned in India. In fact, recently the Union Health Ministry urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to introduce measures to prevent surrogate advertisements of tobacco and alcohol products by sportspersons.

Moreover, regulations are also in place regarding advertisements of real money gaming. Betting and gambling activities are banned under various State laws, while few games of skill have been held to be constitutionally valid by the Supreme Court in various judgements.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has introduced various checks and balances through relevant amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 notified on April 6, 2023. The rules ensure that online games or sites that involve wagering will be banned completely including advertising or any time of presence. For this, the rules introduce the concept of ‘permissible online game’.