MPL parent company serves legal notice to ASCI, demands INR 50 crore for alleged defamation

Time of India

3 days ago

HighlightsGalactus Funware Technology, the parent company of Mobile Premier League, has issued a legal notice to the Advertising Standards Council of India demanding the withdrawal of a whitepaper on opinion trading and seeking INR 50 crore in damages for alleged defamation. The legal notice accuses the Advertising Standards Council of India of publishing a biased whitepaper that misrepresents Mobile Premier League's advertisements by allegedly tampering with screenshots and removing disclaimers. Galactus Funware Technology is challenging the authority of the Advertising Standards Council of India to comment on opinion trading, arguing that it does not have the mandate to categorize such activities as lacking skill, particularly as the legality of these games is currently under judicial review.
Galactus Funware Technology
, the parent company of online gaming platform
MPL
(
Mobile Premier League
), has issued a legal notice to the
Advertising Standards
Council of India (
ASCI
), demanding the immediate withdrawal of a whitepaper titled "Examining
Opinion Trading
in India" and seeking INR 50 crore in damages for alleged
defamation
and loss of goodwill.
The legal notice, dated May 23, 2025, sent through their legal counsel Trilegal, accuses ASCI of publishing a "biased and unsubstantiated" whitepaper that relies on "tampered" versions of MPL's advertisements and misrepresents their content to mislead consumers.
Allegations of tampering and misrepresentation
Galactus Funware
claims that the ASCI whitepaper, published in May 2025, deliberately edited screenshots of their advertisements to support a "baseless conclusion" that opinion trading involves an "element of risk" and "chances of financial losses".
The notice highlights specific instances of alleged tampering citing that ASCI allegedly removed disclaimers present in the original advertisement, thereby misrepresenting its compliance with
advertising
codes.
The company states that a screenshot from an educational YouTube video, emphasising "Skill, Interest, Knowledge," was taken out of context and selectively edited to imply risk, despite the video's focus on skill development.
Galactus Funware also claims ASCI reproduced only a partial section of their website, omitting detailed content on skill, knowledge, and responsible gameplay, and intentionally removing disclaimers.
"The Opinion Trading Whitepaper represents a gross misuse of ASCI's position and seemingly been issued with the sole intent of spreading misinformation and defaming our Client," the legal notice states, adding that its "sensationalist tone reeks of vested interests and a blatant disregard for objectivity".
The advertising self-regulatory body, ASCI told ET that they were in receipt of the notice, but a spokesperson denied any wrongdoing. "We are in receipt of the notice and there is absolutely no question of tampering," the regulator said, in response to a query from ET.
ASCI's Mandate Questioned
Beyond the allegations of tampering, Galactus Funware challenges ASCI's authority to publish such a whitepaper. They argue that ASCI's charter, the Code for Self-Regulation in Advertising, does not provide for commenting on the nature or legality of any industry's operations.
The notice further asserts that ASCI has "no technical acumen or mandate" to categorise opinion trading as a game devoid of skill, equating it to betting or wagering, especially when the legality and categorisation of such games are sub-judice before various high courts, with proceedings stayed by the Supreme Court.
Galactus Funware has given ASCI three days from the issuance of the notice to publicly withdraw the whitepaper. Failure to comply will result in the initiation of "appropriate legal actions (both civil and criminal)" for "deceptive and defamatory conduct", the notice said.
The company also warned that it would seek further compensation for each day the whitepaper remains in the public domain beyond the stipulated three days.
Copies of the legal notice have also been sent to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the All India Gaming Federation. When ET reached out to MPL for their response, a spokesperson declined to comment.