Online gaming services, advertisements brought under I&B ministry

The Centre has issued an order to bring content providers including online gaming services and online advertisements under the I&B Ministry.

The Centre has issued an order to bring content providers including online gaming services and online advertisements under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The Ministry of I&B will get the power to regulate policies for gaming content platforms and online advertisements.(REUTERS)

A gazette notification issued by President Draupadi Murmu stated that ‘films and Audio-Visual programmes/content made available by online content providers/publishers would be brought under the heading “Ministry of Information and Broadcasting” in the Second Schedule of Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961.

'This will have to be followed up by making new rules etc for effecting change,'' said a senior official to HT on condition of anonymity.

Through this notification, the Ministry of I&B will get the power to regulate policies for gaming content platforms and online advertisements.

Back in April, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had released an amendment to the IT Rules, 2021, to regulate “online real money games” where users had to risk money to play, while the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting issued a fresh advisory warning media entities, platforms and online intermediaries against airing advertisements of betting and gambling platforms.

The I&B Ministry back then had taken strong exception to the recent instances of mainstream English and Hindi newspapers carrying advertisements and promotional content of betting websites.

The move to regulate online media was first initiated in March 2018, by then minister for I&B Smriti Irani, and the online space is governed by the Information Technology Act, 2000.