Digital Ads: ASCI Reports Most Violations in FY25

Mumbai, May 28 (PTI) Digital platforms continued their dominance as home for the most number of potentially problematic ads in FY25, the Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) said on Wednesday.

The self-regulatory organization for the advertising industry said it scrutinised 7,199 ads for potential violations during the year and nearly 95 per cent of them were on the digital platforms, the report said.

Over two-thirds of the potentially violative ads on the digital platforms were sponsored ads on social media platforms, while 32 per cent of the digital ads relate to claims on companies' own websites and social media accounts, it said.

A total of 9,599 complaints were looked into by the ASCI, of which 7,199 were scrutinised, and 98 per cent of the overall ads scrutinised required some modification, the report said.

Among digital platforms, Meta accounted for the largest number of violations at 79 per cent of the problematic ads, it said.

The body's chief executive and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said digital media presents a big challenge for the SRO and added that all the stakeholders will have to work together to protect consumer interest.

Unlike TV, print or any other medium, where the broadcast of an ad is uniform, the algorithms-driven world of digital ensures that different users get to see different ads on their screens which makes the job of monitoring all the much difficult, she said.

The ASCI is upping its technology investments and has tied up with a French entity to help it with the tools to track ads in the digital universe, she said, adding that foreign jurisdictions also face similar challenges with digital ads.

From a sectoral perspective, of the 7,078 ads which required modification, a majority 43.52 per cent were from offshore betting, while nearly 25 per cent were from real estate sector.

The SRO reported 3,347 ads to the government regulators for appropriate action because they pertain to laws prohibiting advertising of harmful products like betting/gambling, drugs claiming magic health remedies, alcohol, and tobacco.

If one were to look beyond the betting companies, entities like Apple, Hindustan Unilever and L'Oreal also feature among those which have posted potentially violative ads. Kapoor said such entities engage with the SRO and take swift action as told.