ED summons Meta, Google officials in illegal betting case
New Delhi(PTI): The Enforcement Directorate has summoned representatives of tech giants Meta and Google as part of a money laundering investigation against a number of illegal online betting platforms, official sources said Saturday.
The executives have been asked to depose before the agency on July 21 here and get their statements recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
There was no immediate response from the two companies.
The federal agency is probing multiple platforms hosting illegal betting and gambling links, including instances of advertisements placed for them on various Internet-based social media outlets and app stores.
The tech giants are understood to have been called by the ED to understand how such illegal platforms are able to place advertisements on their social media and communication links.
Some actors, celebrities and sports persons are also under the scanner of the agency in these cases, and they are also expected to be summoned by the ED soon.
The ED has said illegal online betting and gambling platforms were cheating innocent people of their hard-earned money and also laundering and evading taxes worth crores of rupees.
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Congress promotes ‘vote chori’ campaign through Instagram video featuring Kay Kay Menon
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New Delhi: The Congress party, which recently launched its “Vote Chori” (vote theft) campaign demanding transparency in voter rolls, has released a promotional video on Instagram featuring actor Kay Kay Menon.
The video was shared with the caption: “Himmat Singh kuch keh rahe hain, jaldi se kar aao! Band karo”, translated as “Himmat Singh is saying something, go and do it quickly! Stop it.” It was followed by instructions to join the campaign: “To join the campaign — click the link in the bio or give a missed call to 9650003420.”
Himmat Singh is the name of the intelligence officer character portrayed by Kay Kay Menon in the Hotstar Specials series Special Ops.
The “Vote Chori” campaign, led by Congress Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, alleges large-scale manipulation in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in Karnataka’s Bangalore Central constituency, through fake voter entries, duplicate names, and invalid addresses. The campaign portal, votechori.in, enables citizens to access alleged evidence, report voter list discrepancies, and receive a digital certificate supporting the demand for machine-readable digital voter rolls.
The Election Commission has rejected the allegations as “false and misleading” and has asked Gandhi to either provide a signed declaration with supporting evidence under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, or issue a public apology. The BJP has described the campaign as a political stunt.
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