New Delhi
In India, there is a situation of confrontation between technology companies and the law department. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sent summons to META, the world’s two largest tech companies, Google and Facebook’s parent company. This summons has been sent to promote and advertise the illegal online speculative apps spreading rapidly in India.
According to the ED, Google and Meta published advertisements of many such online speculative platforms and promoted them through algorithms, leading to both their advertisement and uses rapidly. Promoting such apps is considered a serious crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The investigating agency believes that these companies have also generated advertisement revenue from speculative apps, promoting activities like money laundering.
When and where to be questioned?
Senior officials of Google and Meta have been asked to appear at the ED headquarters in Delhi on July 21, 2025. During his interrogation, an attempt will be made to know if these companies were aware of the activities of illegal speculative apps and whether they deliberately made commercial relations with them.
However, this is not the first time ED has tightened the technology or media figures related to speculative or drug rackets. Earlier, film stars like Prakash Raj, Rana Daggubati and Vijay Devarakonda were also called for a similar investigation. Now the scope of investigation has increased to tech companies.
Government guidelines ignored?
In 2022, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting by the Government of India issued instructions to all media platforms not to show advertisements of speculative and gambling apps. Despite this, many such advertisements were constantly seen on these platforms, in which the activities of betting were promoted in the name of skill based gaming.
What will happen next in this matter?
ED will examine advertisement data, payment transactions and algorithmic preferences of these companies. If it was found that these companies promoted them by taking money from speculative platforms, then strict legal action could be taken against them. This case can start debate not only in India but also in the global market about the accountability and responsibilities of tech companies.
