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Quarterly Newsletter Issue #11
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Dear Readers,
Greetings!
In this April–June 2025 edition of InnovTech@CUTS, we present insights from our recent studies on pressing digital policy issues. Our work on illegal online gambling reveals its vast scale despite prohibition, with over 5 billion visits in a year which are driven by aggressive marketing, surrogate ads, and illicit payment channels. This underscores the urgent need for stronger enforcement, tech-enabled detection, and coordinated action.
On generative AI, we examined the fast-evolving challenges of moderating AI-generated content, calling for context-sensitive rules, co-developed safety codes, and institutional support to balance safety with free expression. Our study on anti-tobacco messages on OTT platforms found that the proposed measures be sub-optimal and risk unintended adverse consequences. We recommended more targeted, user-friendly approaches to sustain impact without alienating audiences.
This edition also captures our active engagement through op-eds, extensive media coverage, policy submissions on AI governance, and analysis on linkages between resale price maintenance and AI. We participated in high-level forums on innovation, digital markets, and climate-tech, while continuing capacity-building efforts through cybersecurity workshops for MSMEs in Rajasthan, West Bengal and North East.
We hope these updates inform and inspire, and we look forward to your feedback.
Amol Kulkarni
Director (Research)
CUTS International
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Fixing the Odds: A Policy Blueprint for Curbing Illegal Online Gambling in India
Samridh Shastry
 This study analyses the rapidly expanding illegal gambling ecosystem in India. Using a mixed-methods approach, it examined the payment policies, advertisements, and web traffic of the top 15 illegal gambling websites and 40 associated mirror sites.
Between April 2024-March 2025, these platforms recorded over 5 billion visits from India, mostly through direct access, with the rest via search, affiliates, and social media. Platforms, such as Parimatch and 1xBet even outpaced Amazon and Google, targeting vulnerable users with tax-free deposits, fast gameplay, and surrogate advertising. Money laundering occurs through UPI mule accounts, wallets, crypto, and hawala, often enabled by malicious APKs. Weak regulation and the absence of a central authority hamper enforcement.
Recommendations include creating an inter-ministerial task force, strengthening payment- blocking laws, deploying AI/ML tools to detect mirror sites, partnering with Big Tech for takedowns, launching a national awareness campaign, and promoting ongoing research to curb offshore migration.
Read the full report here and a snapshot of findings here.
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Reimagining Content Moderation Strategies in the Age of Generative AI
Asheef Iqubbal
 The study explored the regulatory and technological challenges of AI-generated media. Through a mixed-methods approach, it evaluated current and proposed frameworks, identified gaps, and examined strategies such as labelling, and safe harbour protections.
Regulatory responses worldwide vary from disclosure mandates to platform liability, but remain reactive and fragmented. Detection tools lag behind AI capabilities, producing false positives and negatives and fuelling the ‘liar’s dividend’, where genuine media is dismissed as fake. Overbroad solutions, such as watermarking risk undermining privacy and treating all users as potential offenders.
The study recommends a context-sensitive liability framework, co-developed safety codes across the AI lifecycle and guidance from an AI Safety Institute working with civil society, academics and experts. It also suggests compensation mechanisms to empower civil society in supporting users seeking redress where harms occur.
Read the full report here, and listen to an AI-generated podcast here.
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Anti-Tobacco Messages on OTT Platforms: Need for a Strategic and Targeted Approach
Sohom Banerjee and Bijaya Roy
 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has mandated anti-tobacco health spots, static warnings, and disclaimers on OTT content–a notable development in India’s broader tobacco control strategy. This study critically assessed the effectiveness, user experience, and policy implications of these measures using a nationwide survey of 1,200 OTT users, 50 in-depth interviews, and statistical analysis.
Findings show limited effectiveness due to low engagement and intrusiveness: over 50 percent of respondents skipped or ignored the ads, and 35 percent found them disruptive, particularly on mobile devices. Younger audiences and women were more receptive, but proposed stricter rules, such as 50-second non-skippable disclaimers, risk alienating users, with 10 percent saying they might stop using OTT platforms altogether. Sentiment analysis revealed mixed reactions, with concerns about children’s exposure highlighting the need for age-appropriate messaging.
Recommendations include a risk-proportionate, user-sensitive framework with skippable formats, age-based targeting, and adaptive frequency. The study also calls for co-regulatory bodies to coordinate stakeholders, consistent rules on tobacco content and online sales, and industry collaboration to develop non-disruptive formats. Incentive-based compliance measures like government recognition or tax benefits, are also proposed.
Read the full report here. |
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Resale Price Maintenance in Online Markets: The Role of Artificial Intelligence
Dr. Drishti Parnami
 This paper examined the evolving challenges of Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) in digital markets. With the growth of online platforms, characterised by multi sided markets, network effects, and data-driven algorithms, traditional antitrust concerns require rethinking.
The paper analysed both the examined the pro- and anti-competitive implications of RPM in online and offline contexts. It reviewed key cases from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), particularly within the e-commerce, to trace shifts in regulatory perspectives. It also assessed how AI enhances RPM enforcement and the implications for competition law. The paper offers a nuanced understanding of RPM in the age of digitisation and algorithmic pricing.
Read the Working Paper here.
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The ‘parental consent’ problem with the draft rules of the DPDP Act
Asheef Iqubbal
The Hindu, April 05, 2025
Drones, Deals and Deep Reserves – Australia’s Indo-Pacific Leverage
Pradeep S. Mehta, Anjali Shekhawat, and Purushendra Singh
India's World, April 09, 2025
Why Digital Healthcare Cannot Substitute Foundational Infrastructure
Asheef Iqubbal
The Wire, May 25, 2025
The hidden cost of the Ghibli effect
Sasmit Patra and Pradeep S Mehta
Financial Express, June 13, 2025
Building Trust in Synthetic Media Through Responsible AI Governance
Asheef Iqubbal
Tech Policy Press, June 23, 2025
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CUTS International raises concern over sudden price hikes by Telecel Ghana
City Newsroom, April 26, 2025
Rethink OTT ads: 75% of users aren't engaging
The Economic Times, May 27, 2025
Govt Sources Indicate MDR of 0.2%-0.3% on UPI: What India Can Learn from Brazil’s Pix
MediaNama, May 01, 2025
Over 35% of OTT Viewers Find Non-Skippable Anti-Tobacco Warnings Intrusive, CUTS Study Finds
MediaNama, May 27, 2025
‘Smoking kills’ could be killing user experience on OTT
Best Media Info, May 28, 2025
Illegal sites target minors, vulnerable groups with fast bets, big payouts: Report
Livemint, June 01, 2025
Illegal gambling platforms pose grave threat to Indian youth: Report
The Hindu, June 01, 2025
India hub for illegal online betting, sites got 5 bn visits in FY25: Report
Business Standard, June 01, 2025
$100 Billion Illegal Online Gambling Threat in India Puts Minors and Youth at Risk, Warns CUTS International
MediaNews4U, June 02, 2025
UPI Mules And Their Role In Illegal Online Gambling
MediaNama, June 03, 2025
Report reveals alarming rise in online gambling
Bangalore Mirror, June 03, 2025
AI Content Detection Tools Like Watermarking Might Risk Personal Privacy: CUTS
MediaNama, June 12, 2025
CUTS International pushes for ATM fee reforms
B&FT Online, June 19, 2025
CUTS International urges BoG to address 'unfair' ATM charges
Ghana Web, June 22, 2025
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Krishaank Jugiani spoke at the national conference, Wi-Fi in 6GHz: Unlocking the Future of Innovation, organised by ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI) in New Delhi on June 19, 2025.
Sohom Banerjee spoke at the 7th International Conference on Financial Markets and Corporate Finance (ICFMCF 2025), organised by the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-K) from June 27-29, 2025. He presented his research paper: The Role of Emerging Technologies in Advancing Net Zero Goals and Facilitating Climate Finance Initiatives.
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Workshops on Cybersecurity Capacity Building for MSMEs in India
 CUTS International conducted Cybersecurity Building Workshops for MSMEs in Rajasthan, West Bengal and North East. The workshops, organised in collaboration with local industry associations, brought together entrepreneurs and workers from diverse sectors, including rubber harvesting and processing, food processing, agriculture-based businesses, jewellery and accessory making, small retail businesses, handicrafts, and local transportation services. The initiative aimed to enhance cybersecurity awareness among MSME owners, employees, and business associates, highlighting both common and often overlooked cybersecurity threats.
More details about the project are here.
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