Govt to ban online games, advertisements involving betting

The government will ban any online games or websites promoting betting as well as advertisements promoting such games. The ban is part of the amendments in the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, notified by the government on April 2. The newly amended IT intermediaries’ rules mandate institution of an entity that will flag ‘false’ or ‘untrue’ or ‘misleading’ information about the central government posted online. The provision of such an entity is part of the amendments to the IT Rules, 2021, that was notified on April 6. As per the new law, if a government agency or government information is misrepresented on any online platform, the fact checking unit will flag it. “After flagging, it is for intermediates to decide whether they want to take it down or not, just like in the original rules in October 2022. There is no firm obligation on the intermediate to take down the content but if it refuses to do so they will lose their safe harbor. And they will have to deal with the court of law,” said the minister.