A parliamentary committee has recommended that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) make the proposed regulation on online advertising robust enough to also address fraudulent activities originating globally and targeting people in India.

“The Committee…recommends that the Ministry (of Information and Broadcasting), while finalising the policy, duly incorporate robust verification requirements for offshore advertisers, including digital document verification, live identity authentication and continuous monitoring based on zero-trust principles, so as to prevent fraudulent and deceptive advertisements targeting Indian users,” the panel observed.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, which tabled its report late last week, also advised the MIB that it would like to be “apprised of the action taken” with regard to the proposed regulation on online advertising.

The MIB had told the parliamentary committee that, in view of the growing threat posed by online advertising fraud, a regulation was currently at the “draft stage” in the Ministry.

Meanwhile, as reported on August 8, the Standing Committee on Home Affairs had also recommended that the government may “expeditiously examine the feasibility” of establishing an independent post-release review panel for content on streaming platforms.

The Committee suggested that the proposed panel could comprise experts from the fields of child development, education, law, social sciences and civil society to “review flagged content and recommend appropriate corrective measures”.

The observations relating to an OTT content review body came after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the MIB told the Home Affairs Committee that under the IT Rules’ Digital Media Ethics Code, content on streaming platforms is largely governed through a self-regulatory mechanism.

Streaming platforms operating in India have, at various times, submitted before government bodies — including while providing inputs on consultation papers concerning related issues — that, given the evolving nature of the sector, digital content would be best left to self-regulation.

However, a section of India’s approximately $30 billion media and entertainment industry is of the view that OTT platforms and their content should be brought under a regulatory regime, similar to other segments of the media and entertainment industry.