Govt Warns Portals Running Betting Ads Face Immediate Shutdown

Faiz Ahmed Taiyeb, special assistant to the chief adviser on posts, telecommunications, and ICT, has issued a final warning that media portals running gambling or unsafe advertisements will be shut down immediately and without further notice. The warning comes despite repeated government directives, with Taiyeb noting that many portals continue to run these ads for financial gain.

Speaking at a meeting on "Measures to Prevent Online Gambling" at the BTRC headquarters, Taiyeb confirmed that authorities have been given a deadline to comply. The government is actively working to combat online gambling using web crawling technology to identify links to mobile financial service (MFS) accounts.

Since May, the authorities have identified 4,820 MFS numbers and 1,331 web portals/links associated with gambling. Taiyeb highlighted the challenge of enforcement, as blocked sites quickly change their IP addresses, modify names, and use new MFS numbers, often circulating new apps via platforms like Signal and WhatsApp. He urged mobile operators, MFS providers, and broadband companies to step up efforts and called for stronger collaboration with law enforcement, suggesting they infiltrate gambling groups to identify the operators.