In order to strike down the egregious claims made by one advertiser, Patanjali Ayurved, and to prevent further distorted claims by other advertisers in the future, the Supreme Court in an order on May 7, 2024, had directed broadcasters, and print and digital media to file self-declaration certificates (SDCs) that their ads comply with all extant rules. While it’s nobody’s case that this self-declaration would curb misleading ads, the ham-handed manner of its implementation has advertisers and media houses fretting.

In order to comply with the SC order, the I&B Ministry mandated that all advertisers upload details about their advertisements — print and digital — on the Press Council of India site, and TV and radio media on the Broadcast Seva portal of the I&B Ministry from June 18. While the self-declaration certificates sought on the PCI site exceed 28,000 as on date, that on the Seva site is not clear. This has stirred a hornet’s nest among advertisers as the sites have been unable to handle the hundreds of log-ins for the SDCs. They complain that the sites hang, the process is cumbersome and takes ages to upload, resulting in a delay in the release of the ads to media houses and consequent financial implications. These glitches have shades of the earlier launch and implementation of the income tax portal and the GST portal which went through all the same teething troubles.

This again goes to prove that the digital backbone needs to be robust before embarking on such mammoth-scale endeavours. Other doubts and issues abound. As the Indian Newspaper Society in a letter to the Secretary of the I&B Ministry points out, requiring all ads to seek SDCs is not advisable. There are ads that make no claims — the whole kerfuffle emanated from misleading claims made by Patanjali ads — so these ads need to be exempted from such compliance, is its plea. Then there are government and public sector ads or statutory ads which may not need self-declarations. Getting SDCs for different sizes and versions of the same ad, as well as in different languages, also adds to the compliance burden.

Digital media, which is now closely integrated with the operations of the print media, has its own set of challenges as well. Digital ads are often released in tandem with print ads which means the SDCs need to be secured simultaneously, a challenge given that digital ads are more malleable and can be produced in various formats ranging from videos to banner ads. There are other issues of confidentiality as well, if an advertiser has to reveal the entire media plan on the portals and lose the edge over rivals. While the move by the I&B Ministry is in compliance with the SC order and is a welcome step to safeguard consumer interest and curb misleading advertising by unscrupulous advertisers, the manner of its implementation needs refinement and fine tuning. More confabulations with the advertising industry are certainly called for.