International Tax Panorama

Apple has told Indian authorities that it will only take down online betting apps from its App Store if there is a “concrete reason or a legal requirement” to do the same

Apple, however, has not directly refused to comply with the order issued by the ministry of electronics and information technology, but has clarified that it cannot remove betting apps ‘arbitrarily’ from its platform.

The company contended that since these apps are valid and legal in other geographies, it would be difficult for (Apple) to bar them outright in India.

A meeting was held between India’s IT officials and Apple’s executives in March after the MeitY listed out names of 138 betting and gaming apps that have been disallowed from continuing to operate in the country.

The company is “vetting apps” in order to ensure “only the wrong or bad players of the ecosystem” are removed from its platform.

Why these betting apps have been ordered to be taken down? 

The Centre had passed a new amendment to the IT Rules in April 2023 in order to ensure the protection of gamers from addiction and harmful content. This amendment banned games that involved betting with actual money.

After the amendments were made, the ministry again asked the iPhone-maker to make that that no app involving betting or wagering is available on the App Store.

The apps that have been asked to be taken down were apparently violating Section 69A of the IT Act. While taking out the list of apps that should be taken down, officials were of the opinion that these applications were posing as a threat to India’s sovereignty.

Can Apple be forced to take down apps by Indian Authorities? 

For Apple, it now has three options:

1. tell the ministry that it will not be possible for them to take down the apps in question and provide reasons for the same
2. take the matter to court just like Twitter had done
3. or to simply comply.

But Apple might have defended its position through interpretation of the wording of Sec 69A of the IT Act. The wording of Section 69A of the IT Act is broad and uses terms like public order, security of the state and sovereignty of the country and so on which doesn’t necessarily cover gambling and betting

In 2010, CERT-In did not accede to Maharashtra government’s request to block betting website Betfair stating that they could not take down some content because it was not violating the clauses of Section 69A. So, it is possible that Apple too made a case along these lines.

Are the new IT Rules 2023 being used too soon? 

The IT Rules 2023, released in April, states that the ministry has given the power to self-regulatory organisations (SROs) to approve online games.

The fact that SROs/SRBs are still to be constituted and recognised by MeitY, could be the reason why it could be considered that the trigger has been pulled a little too soon, when it comes to banning these apps

Betting and gambling is a state subject and while the Centre has come out with overarching guidelines for the online space, the power to classify whether an activity falls within the remit of betting and gambling in compliance with judicial precedent lies with the states.