iWorld
GUEST COLUMN: Deciphering social media Humanology during pandemic
New Delhi: Before 2020, if any individual ever put a requirement about a hospital or medicines on their social media timeline, the only people to respond to those posts would be their friends and professional relations. It was highly unlikely if an unknown (or unconnected) individual jumped in to respond or help.
However, the second wave of Covid-19 broke this myth. When someone posted an SOS message, the entire community, irrespective of whether they were connected or not, jumped in to help them. Within minutes, the seeker had the list of hospitals to dial in, vendors for an oxygen cylinder, masks, sanitisers, vials, doctors, and home remedies.
As the days went by, the number of these SOS turned into thousands flooding the timelines. There was a barrage of WhatsApp messages, Twitter posts, Insta Stories, Posts, and others sharing the names & contacts of the verified vendors/places of these above-mentioned amenities created by people who are not content creators.
The content creators and influencers played their roles. Technology enthusiasts created live blogs, tools that maintained the real-time verified status of the hospitals, doctors, and other necessities on the social media accounts for free of cost. Once an SOS query was answered there was a heart-warming response. The scenario reflected the age-old proverb – ‘Neki Kar, Dariya Mein dal’ (Be Discreet with your Kindness).
And it was not just a common man who used this medium, several hospitals and institutions used the social platforms to update their daily/hourly status and raise SOS to the government.
So, what changed in 2021? Why did people become so proactive on social media to help each other? What did they get out of this? Before we dig deep into this psychographic analysis of this question, let us understand the behaviour of most people on social media, especially who they engage with & how they do it.
Social media has always been like a digital mohalla (neighbourhood) where one lives with fast friends, daily acquaintances, casual acquaintances, professional acquaintances, and dormant relations. On most occasions, our deepest engagements are with either fast friends or professional connections. However, with everyone else, this relationship of engagement is very casual.
Stronger Together!
People realised that they were probably facing the worst ever humanitarian crisis and the only chance to survive this was through fighting it together. Now they could not go outside physically to help them, so the only option was to help digitally. This meant they could order medicines, find doctors, connect with hospitals, ambulances, and others.
Online Connection to on-ground Solution!
Once helping each other became a duty for responsible netizens, they started realising the power of social media and connections. They moved a step beyond just sharing the jokes and news and saw that they were part of the real action where lives mattered. Their small contribution can help someone. A simple idea that even if an existing connection could save one single life, it would be worth it.
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It gave them a lot of peace and satisfaction as they were able to help each other. Sharing is caring! They had a platform to express happiness or displeasure about the situation where they will not be judged. This feature has always been there and people used it excessively during the pandemic. The affected shared their challenges & remedies; the ones who suffered losses shared their thoughts & displeasure about the situation and the ones who were safe were able to take learnings from the affected ones.
Together We Win!
Together these voices collaborated and were able to gather domestic and global attention. They believed that they were a part of a movement where people will read/hear/see their plight and chip in to help. And finally, people were able to seek genuine responses that mattered. They were turning out to be influencers aka god’s light for many others. This user-generated response mechanism created a strong trust in their mind for the platform and engaged them even further to the mediums.
A big reason for this massive shift in behaviour was the need of people at large, especially when India’s entire healthcare system was under immense pressure.
However, there was also a flip side to it. It led to a lot of misinformation also wherein information about several untested medications was also making rounds on social media which could easily lead to reputation damage for a long time.
As a digital marketer, I believe in the semantics of social media platforms and connections. This shift is going to stay, social media as a social support platform is a colossal example of changing human behaviour & technology.
(Jankana Kaul is CEO, Natter. The views expressed in the column are personal and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
Gaming
India’s new online gaming rules take effect today, banning money games and creating a regulator
The rules, in force from today, separate e-sports from gambling and impose jail terms and stiff fines on violators
NEW DELHI: India’s online gaming sector woke up this morning to a new reality. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, came into force today, May 1st, turning a year of legislative intent into enforceable law. The message from New Delhi is blunt: e-sports and social games are welcome; online money games are not.
The rules operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act, passed by Parliament in August 2025. Together, they represent the most sweeping regulatory intervention India has made in its booming digital gaming market, one that generated Rs 23,200 crore in 2024 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 11 per cent to reach Rs 31,600 crore by 2027. The stakes, in every sense, could not be higher.
A sector out of control
The urgency behind the legislation is not hard to find. An estimated 45 crore Indians have been affected by online money gaming platforms, with losses exceeding Rs 20,000 crore. Addiction, financial ruin, money laundering, and suicides have all been linked to the sector. Seventy-seven per cent of the market’s revenues came from transaction-based games, a figure that made regulators deeply uneasy.
The government’s response, effective as of today, is categorical. Online money games, whether based on chance, skill, or any mix of the two, are banned outright. So is their advertising, promotion, and facilitation. Banks and payment processors are barred from handling related transactions. Unlawful platforms can be blocked under the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
The penalties are designed to sting. Offering or facilitating online money games can attract up to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore, or both. Repeat offenders face a minimum of three years, extendable to five, with fines between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore. Advertising such games carries up to two years in prison and fines of up to Rs 50 lakh, with repeat violations attracting higher penalties still. Cyber cell officers at state and union territory levels, including at police station, district, and commissionerate levels, are empowered to investigate offences.
The new sheriff in town
At the centre of the new framework sits the Online Gaming Authority of India, a digital-first regulator constituted as an attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, headquartered in Delhi. It is chaired by the additional secretary of MeitY and includes joint secretary-level representation from home affairs, finance, information and broadcasting, youth affairs and sports, and law and justice, a deliberately multi-sectoral design built for a complex sector.
The authority’s powers are broad. It will maintain and publish lists of online money games, investigate complaints, issue directions, orders, and codes of practice, hear appeals on user grievances, and coordinate with financial institutions and law enforcement to ensure effective and timely action.
Its decisions on game classification are to be completed within 90 days, a time-bound commitment that industry players have welcomed after years of regulatory ambiguity. Classification can be triggered by the authority acting on its own initiative, by an application from a service provider, or by a notification from the central government. Games will be assessed on objective factors: whether stakes are involved, whether players expect monetary winnings, the revenue model, and whether in-game assets can be monetised outside the game. The outcome is recorded in a determination order specific to the game and provider.
E-sports gets its moment
While the crackdown on money gaming dominates today’s headlines, the rules also carve out a structured path for e-sports and online social games. Registration, required when notified by the central government, applies to all games offered as e-sports and is based on factors including risk to users, scale, financial transactions, and country of origin. A successful application yields a digital certificate of registration with a unique number, valid for up to ten years. Service providers must display registration details, designate a point of contact, comply with data retention requirements, and follow directions on facilitating payments.
Online money games are explicitly ineligible for recognition or registration as e-sports under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025. The separation is deliberate, and the industry has noticed.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, called today’s operationalisation “encouraging,” pointing to publisher-led registration of esports titles and a time-bound determination process as creating “much-needed certainty for all stakeholders.” He added that the “continued emphasis on clearly separating esports from online money gaming is critical in preserving the integrity of competitive gaming as a skill-driven discipline.” He described it as “a proud moment to see official acknowledgement of the broader benefits of responsible esports and gaming, from building confidence, discipline, and teamwork to creating new career pathways for young talent,” and said the framework sets “a strong foundation for the ecosystem to scale in a more structured and globally competitive manner.”
Animesh Agarwal, co-founder and chief executive of S8UL, was equally bullish. “This clarity is critical in unlocking investor confidence and attracting multi-genre brands, while also enabling organisations to take a more long-term view, whether in investing in talent, scaling teams, or building globally competitive formats,” he said, adding that it “strengthens trust among audiences and mainstream stakeholders, positioning esports not just as a sport, but as a fast-growing youth entertainment category in India.”
But Agarwal urged caution on several fronts. There remains limited clarity around financial frameworks, particularly in how esports earnings are treated by banks and financial institutions. A well-defined pathway for the formal recognition or registration of esports teams is still evolving, as are structured player protections. He also called for smoother visa processes for esports athletes competing in international tournaments and for government support in developing infrastructure, including bootcamps, training facilities, and access to high-performance equipment across titles.
Vishal Parekh, chief operating officer of CyberPowerPC India, pointed to downstream effects on education and careers. “With formal recognition and policy backing, colleges and institutions are more likely to take the sector seriously, whether through dedicated esports infrastructure, training programmes, or curriculum integration,” he said, adding that this helps students view gaming as a viable career spanning roles across competitive play, content, game development, and allied industries. He noted that as esports gains prominence in global multi-sport events, the framework strengthens India’s position in international competitive gaming, and called on the ecosystem to provide the right infrastructure and access to high-performance hardware to unlock opportunities in talent development and job creation.
Protecting users, one safeguard at a time
The rules introduce a layered system of user protections calibrated to the risk profile of each game. These include age verification, age gating, time restrictions, parental controls, user reporting tools, counselling support, and fair-play and integrity monitoring. Service providers must disclose their safety features and internal grievance mechanisms when applying for determination or registration.
A two-tier grievance redressal system sits atop these safeguards. Users who are dissatisfied with a platform’s resolution can escalate to the authority within 30 days. The authority aims to dispose of such appeals within a further 30 days. A second appeal lies before the secretary of MeitY, who must also endeavour to resolve matters within 30 days. Enforcement proceedings will be conducted in digital mode wherever possible, with cases targeted for resolution within 90 days from receipt of a complaint.
Penalties under the framework are proportionate, taking into account gain from non-compliance, loss to users, the gravity of the offence, and whether violations are recurring. Mitigation efforts by service providers will also be considered when determining penalties. All penalties imposed under the Act will be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India.
The money follows the rules
For investors and founders, the implications are immediate and significant. Sagar Nair, head of incubation at LVL Zero Incubator, a 100-day sprint designed to accelerate early-stage gaming startups across India, argues that with real-money gaming now prohibited, capital will shift “away from transaction-driven models toward content-led, IP-driven, and global-first gaming businesses.” He acknowledged trade-offs: for operators with exposure to real-money formats, the market becomes more restrictive in the near term. But he argued that by clearly separating esports and non-money gaming from online money gaming, “India is positioning itself as a hub for responsible, creative, and scalable game development.” The opportunity, he said, is “to view India not just as a monetisation-first market, but as a talent, IP, and scale market,” adding that “for founders and investors willing to adapt, this shift could ultimately strengthen India’s position in the global gaming landscape.”
The government frames the wider impact in equally ambitious terms: a boost to India’s creative economy and digital exports, new career pathways for young people, protection for families from predatory platforms, and a stronger voice in global digital governance. India, it argues, offers a model for other countries grappling with the same tensions between gaming’s economic promise and its social risks, one that shows innovation and strong safeguards need not be mutually exclusive.
Whether the framework delivers on those promises will depend on enforcement, always the hardest part. But from today, the architecture is firmly in place: a regulator with teeth, a classification system with deadlines, penalties designed to deter, and a clear dividing line between games that build careers and games that destroy finances. For a sector that has grown fast and governed itself loosely, May 1st, 2026 is the day the free ride ends.
