MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENTS IN INDIA: CONTENT-BASED LIABILITY TO PLATFORM GOVERNANCE IN THE DIGITAL AGE

AUTHOR – ANANYA SHARMA, STUDENT AT AMITY UNIVERSITY, NOIDA

BEST CITATION – ANANYA SHARMA,MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENTS IN INDIA: CONTENT-BASED LIABILITY TO PLATFORM GOVERNANCE IN THE DIGITAL AGE, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (8) OF 2026, PG. 336-347, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344. DOI – https://doi.org/10.65393/IJLRV6I833

Abstract

In 2020 the digital economy has masked distinctions between traditional advertising, influencer marketing and immersive, sensory real time marketing, creating a playful ecosystem of commercial influence that evades regulation in India.

This chapter is in five parts. First, it provides the constitutional framework for regulating commercial speech under Article 19(1)(a) that evolves from the early ostracism of commercial expression in Hamdard Dawakhana v. Union of India to its recognition in Tata Press Ltd. v. MTNL, and its relation with the constitutional right of informational privacy in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India. Second, it describes the flaws of the existing regulatory paradigm with respect to the emphasis on content-based definitions of misdemeanor, the platform safe harbor doctrine that exempts the most commercially important players from the regulatory net, the misleadingly low caps on penalties and institutional disjointedness that promotes rational non-compliance (“non-compliance”).

It counters direct importation with smart adaptation: it promotes regulatory transplantation, but Indian adaptation of regulatory principles to its institutional characteristics and constitutional structures. At the heart of it lies the argument that, for India to manage commercial influence, a reconceptualization of India’s digital content control from violation of content to ecosystem is crucial.

This requires a cohesive framework respecting graduated platform liability, binding traceability requirements of disclosure and transparency regarding the workings of algorithms, penalties aligned with turnover and the creation of a formal co-regulatory structure with the CCPA, the Data Protection Board of India and ASCI. Without this reframing, incremental legislative changes will continue to offer normative aspirations without efficacy norms on paper that have no teeth.