New Delhi, July 19 || Taking on tech giants for allegedly promoting online betting Apps which are under probe for serious financial crimes, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday sent notices to tech giants Google and Meta, summoning them for questioning on July 21.
The notices were sent in connection with an ED investigation into online betting App cases, currently under investigation for financial crimes, including money laundering and hawala transactions.
The regulator alleged that these tech platforms provided prominent advertising slots and allowed websites linked to these online betting platforms to gain visibility on their respective platforms, thereby contributing to the widespread reach of these illicit operations.
Google and Meta have been summoned by the ED for questioning on July 21, accusing them of promoting online betting Apps, according to the ED notice.
ED is closely investigating a large network of online betting Apps. Many of these Apps are actually promoting illicit betting by calling themselves 'skill based games’ while actually engaging in illegal gambling.
These platforms are believed to have generated illicit funds worth crores of rupees, often routed through hawala channels to avoid detection.