Tech Giants
A Rest of World analysis found Meta is disregarding local laws and the company’s own guidelines in at least 13 countries.
Between 2021 and 2024, India saw a surge of popularity in online gambling, as increasingly cheap mobile data and expanded access to smartphones fueled use of the games. Driven by concerns around illegal operations, Indian authorities summoned Meta and Google last summer to discuss their role in promoting gambling sites. In August, the Indian government banned all forms of real-money online gambling and its promotion, joining many countries across South and Southeast Asia as well as the Middle East.
A new Rest of World analysis reveals that illegal online gambling ads continue to be widespread on Meta platforms in India, and around the world. In December alone, Rest of World found at least 140 banned ads running in India. The analysis also indicates Meta was running gambling ads in 12 additional countries, where they’re prohibited by law.
Data from Meta’s ad library, analyzed by Rest of World in December, showed dozens of pages running nearly 1,000 such ads across Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other nations where local laws prohibit such promotion. Over 2,400 additional ads are now inactive, but many of the pages that ran them continue to operate on the platform.
