The Union Cabinet has assigned the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting as the administrative authority for the regulation of online advertisements. The amendment to the Allocation of Business (AoB) Rules, 1961, dated July 28 and published on Monday, places “online advertisements” under the purview of the I&B Ministry.
The I&B Ministry was already looking at online advertising, most notably through circulars in 2022 warning TV channels as well as OTT streaming services to stay clear of ads from “betting and gambling” firms. This step ensures that the issue explicitly comes under the administrative purview of the I&B Ministry.
The I&B Ministry already has administrative authority over ‘Films and Audio-Visual programmes made available by online content providers’. It exercises this power through the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and engages frequently with representatives of streaming services.
With the addition of online advertising in the AoB rules, the language for this entry has been tweaked to make it “Films and … programmes/content” published by streaming services.