Advertising Policy

Principle

Advertising can help sustain independent publishing, but it should never compromise reader confidence, conceal commercial influence or affect independent editorial judgment. DeshiAI accepts advertising only when the advertiser, message, placement, destination and related data practices can be handled lawfully, transparently and in accordance with the publication’s standards.

Readers should be able to recognize advertising without relying on hidden metadata, searching for a disclosure or interpreting unclear design elements. Commercial communication is identified through clear wording, visible placement and presentation appropriate to the format in which it appears.

Scope

This policy covers display advertising, native advertising, sponsored placements, newsletter advertising, video and audio advertising, affiliate promotions, branded pages, paid recommendations, event sponsorships, commercial widgets, promotional links, political and issue advertising, and other paid or materially supported communications published or distributed under the DeshiAI name.

Editorial and Commercial Separation

Payment for advertising does not purchase editorial influence. An advertiser, agency, sponsor or commercial partner cannot require DeshiAI to alter independent conclusions, approve unrelated reporting, suppress accurate criticism, choose independent authors, disclose confidential sources, prevent a correction or retraction, or provide favorable treatment in editorial reviews. Commercial relationships also do not provide a right to conceal relevant conflicts, receive advance access to unrelated investigations, dictate how independent content is classified, remove public-interest reporting, influence election coverage or obtain undisclosed editorial links.

Commercial teams may work with advertisers on campaign formats, lawful claims, creative requirements, scheduling, placement, technical delivery, audience parameters, pricing and contractual matters. Decisions involving independent reporting, editorial classification, corrections and publishing standards remain under editorial responsibility. Where commercial and editorial functions are handled by the same person in a small operation, the responsibilities remain separate and the relevant decision should be recorded.

Advertising Identification

Advertising should be recognizable before a reasonable reader could confuse it with independent editorial material. Appropriate labels include Advertisement, Sponsored, Sponsored Content, Partner Content, Paid Promotion or Commercial Message. Terms such as Presented by, In association with, Special Feature, Brand Story or Promoted should not be used by themselves when they do not clearly communicate that the material is paid or commercially supported.

The disclosure should appear near the headline or primary commercial message, before the material can reasonably be consumed as independent content, using readable and accessible text. The same distinction should be maintained across desktop, mobile, newsletters, social distribution and syndicated formats where practicable. A disclosure buried in a footer, Terms of Use, author biography, hover element or metadata is insufficient for advertising designed to resemble editorial content.

Native Advertising

Native advertising refers to commercial material created or presented in a format that resembles or sits alongside editorial content. When DeshiAI publishes native advertising, its presentation must not mislead readers about who funded it, who produced it, whether DeshiAI independently reported the material, whether a sponsor reviewed or approved it, whether claims originated with the advertiser, whether links provide commercial benefit or whether the material belongs to independent editorial coverage.

Native advertising should not use a conventional editorial byline, article classification or page treatment in a way that hides its commercial origin. A consistent visual experience may be used for usability and accessibility, but it must not remove the distinction between advertising and independent journalism.

Advertiser Identity and Verification

DeshiAI may request sufficient information to establish an advertiser’s legal or trading identity, responsible contact, ultimate client, beneficial commissioning party where relevant, business location, ownership of the destination, authority to promote the product or service, applicable licenses, payment source, campaign purpose, material subcontractors and relationships that require disclosure.

An agency should not conceal the actual advertiser when doing so could mislead readers, bypass restrictions or prevent appropriate conflict review. DeshiAI may decline advertising when the advertiser, ownership, destination or source of campaign funding cannot be established with reasonable confidence.

Accuracy and Substantiation

Advertisers remain responsible for ensuring that their advertising claims are truthful and lawful. DeshiAI may request supporting evidence before accepting or continuing a claim. Additional scrutiny may apply to health, medical, financial, investment, environmental, safety, security, privacy, artificial intelligence, comparative, market-share, user-number, leadership, award, certification, discount, charitable, scientific and testimonial claims.

Review by DeshiAI for publication suitability does not mean that a claim has been independently verified. Statements such as best, safest, most trusted, guaranteed, risk-free, clinically proven, carbon neutral, official, certified, number one or world-leading should be supported by evidence appropriate to the claim and relevant jurisdiction. An advertiser’s own research or testimonial can contribute to substantiation but is not automatically independent evidence.

Prices, Offers and Availability

Advertising should disclose material conditions that affect an offer, including price, applicable taxes, subscription renewal, minimum commitment, cancellation terms, eligibility, geographic limitations, stock restrictions, delivery conditions, recurring payments, introductory pricing, trial conversion, financing, exclusions and expiry dates where relevant. Discounts should not rely on artificial reference prices, limited-time claims should reflect genuine limitations, and free offers should not conceal unavoidable payments, subscriptions or data-use conditions.

Testimonials and Endorsements

Testimonials and endorsements should represent genuine experiences and should not create a misleading impression about typical outcomes. Material relationships between an advertiser and an endorser should be disclosed. DeshiAI does not accept fabricated testimonials, synthetic customers represented as real people, undisclosed paid reviews, editing that materially changes meaning, purchased ratings presented as organic, impersonated experts, false professional endorsements, claims based on experiences the endorser did not have or deceptive before-and-after representations.

A person’s image, voice, name or identity should be used only where the advertiser has an appropriate lawful basis and necessary authority.

Artificial Intelligence and Synthetic Advertising

Advertising that is generated or materially modified with artificial intelligence remains subject to the same requirements as other commercial material. Synthetic media should be disclosed when a reasonable reader could mistake it for a genuine testimonial, documentary record, customer, product demonstration, expert, event, political statement or actual result.

DeshiAI does not accept unauthorized cloned voices, synthetic public figures presented as endorsers, fabricated experts, invented customer experiences, deceptive demonstrations, synthetic medical evidence, manipulated financial results, undisclosed virtual influencers, non-consensual intimate material or the use of a real person’s likeness in a materially misleading context.

Comparative Advertising

Comparative advertising should rely on a fair, relevant and supportable basis. The advertisement should make clear what is being compared, the applicable period and geography, product version, criteria, evidence, limitations and whether the comparison remains current. It should not rely on an outdated competitor product, leave out material differences or turn a narrow test into a claim of universal superiority. Trademark references must be lawful, accurate and not misleading.

Environmental Claims

Environmental and sustainability statements should be specific, understandable and capable of support. Broad claims such as green, sustainable, eco-friendly, zero impact, climate positive or carbon neutral should not be used without sufficient explanation of the product or organization covered, lifecycle stage, emissions boundary, calculation approach, offsets, certification, independent verification, geography, relevant period, excluded impacts and the difference between achieved outcomes and future commitments.

Health and Medical Advertising

Advertising concerning health, medicine and well-being receives additional scrutiny. DeshiAI may reject unlicensed medical claims, guaranteed cures, messaging that encourages avoidance of necessary treatment, unsupported diagnostic claims, deceptive before-and-after material, exploitation of serious illness, unsafe products, unlawful prescription promotion, fabricated clinical evidence or fear-based targeting of vulnerable audiences. Publishing an advertisement does not amount to medical endorsement by DeshiAI.

Financial and Investment Advertising

Financial advertising should not create a misleading impression of guaranteed returns, certainty, government protection or the absence of risk. DeshiAI may request disclosure of the provider’s identity, regulatory status, relevant risks, fees, volatility, potential capital loss, jurisdiction, intended audience, assumptions, leverage, liquidity and conflicts of interest. Historical performance should not be presented as a promise of future results. Deceptive investment arrangements, unauthorized financial services, market manipulation and impersonation are not accepted.

Political and Issue Advertising

Political and issue advertising receives additional scrutiny under the Election and Political Coverage Policy. DeshiAI may request disclosure of the payer, sponsoring organization, ultimate commissioning party, relevant jurisdiction, candidate or issue, campaign period, targeting criteria, use of synthetic media, production responsibility and required authorization. Political advertising must not be presented as independent reporting, and its publication does not constitute institutional endorsement by DeshiAI.

DeshiAI may reject political advertising that is deceptive, threatening, discriminatory, unlawfully targeted, intended to suppress lawful voting, conceals its sponsor, fabricates evidence or uses synthetic media without appropriate disclosure.

Children and Vulnerable Audiences

Advertising should not take advantage of age, disability, financial hardship, health circumstances, grief, fear, limited understanding or other vulnerabilities. Advertising directed toward, or reasonably likely to be consumed by, children should not encourage unsafe conduct, apply inappropriate pressure, exploit trust in parents or teachers, conceal purchase requirements, collect unnecessary personal information, encourage children to bypass adult consent, rely on deceptive game mechanics, unlawfully promote age-restricted products or appear to be educational or editorial content without clear advertising identification.

Prohibited and Restricted Categories

DeshiAI does not accept advertising involving unlawful goods or services, fraud, impersonation, malware, credential theft, phishing, trafficking, exploitation, non-consensual sexual material, child sexual abuse material, hate-based targeting, incitement to violence, deceptive financial schemes, fabricated identity documents, sale of stolen data, unauthorized surveillance, unlawful hacking services, counterfeit goods, dangerous misinformation, harassment services, revenge content or other conduct presenting unacceptable risk.

Lawful but sensitive categories may require additional review, age controls, jurisdictional restrictions or rejection. These may include alcohol, gambling, financial products, medical products, political communication, dating services, weight-loss claims, cosmetic procedures, age-restricted entertainment, high-risk investments, credit, insurance, legal services, health services, weapons-related material and controlled substances. Approval in one jurisdiction or advertising format does not automatically establish approval in another.

Advertising Technology and Consent

Advertising technologies should operate consistently with DeshiAI’s Privacy and Cookie policies. Where consent is legally required, non-essential advertising, personalization and tracking technologies should not be activated before a valid user choice. DeshiAI provides clear information, avoids preselected optional categories, maintains reasonably equivalent acceptance and rejection choices, allows consent to be withdrawn as easily as it was given, applies data minimization and appropriate provider review, limits sensitive targeting and maintains an accessible Cookie Settings route.

An advertiser may not require hidden tracking, device fingerprinting, unauthorized data matching or other practices that conflict with the published privacy framework.

Targeting

Advertising targeting should be proportionate and must not exploit sensitive information. DeshiAI does not permit targeting based on unlawfully or inappropriately inferred health conditions, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political vulnerability, financial distress, precise location, child status, victim status or another sensitive characteristic. Contextual advertising based on the subject of a page may be used where appropriate and lawful, without representing that it involves no technical processing.

Security and Destination Integrity

Advertisements, scripts and destination pages must not deliver malware, trigger unauthorized downloads, use deceptive redirects, imitate security warnings, steal credentials, bypass user choices, conceal their final destination, create unclosable pop-ups, interfere with accessibility, materially impair website performance, collect information beyond the disclosed purpose or alter behavior after approval. DeshiAI may suspend a campaign promptly where security concerns, deception or material reader harm are suspected.

Placement and User Experience

DeshiAI controls advertising placement and may avoid positioning advertisements next to death, trauma, disasters, investigations involving the advertiser, children’s or safety-sensitive material, correction notices or other contexts that could create an implied endorsement. Advertisers do not receive a right to prevent unrelated lawful coverage from appearing.

Advertisements must not imitate operating-system notifications, download controls, cookie settings, navigation elements, correction warnings, security alerts, private messages, account errors or official government communications. Close controls should remain usable, while advertising should avoid excessive movement, flashing, sound, obstruction, layout instability or accessibility barriers.

Changes, Corrections and Withdrawal

After approval, an advertiser should not materially alter the destination, claims, imagery, pricing, sponsor identity, tracking, product, disclosure, data collection or legal status without appropriate review. A campaign may be suspended if its destination changes ownership, becomes unsafe or begins displaying unapproved material.

A material advertising error may result in suspension, correction, replacement, public clarification, removal of tracking, destination blocking, notification to affected readers, legal review or termination of the commercial relationship. DeshiAI does not retain misleading advertising simply because payment has already been made.

No Performance Guarantee and Records

Unless a written agreement expressly establishes a measurable service commitment, DeshiAI does not guarantee impressions, clicks, conversions, sales, search ranking, indexing, newsletter engagement, audience demographics, media pickup, reputation improvement, removal of criticism, Google News inclusion or AI citation. Commercial projections and estimates are treated as estimates rather than guaranteed outcomes.

DeshiAI retains proportionate records concerning advertiser identity, campaign details, payments, contracts, creative material, supporting evidence, approvals, disclosures, targeting, cookie or tracking arrangements, publication dates, modifications, complaints, corrections and termination. Records are protected and retained as appropriate for operational, legal, tax, security and accountability purposes.

Contact

Advertising enquiries may be sent to advertising@deshiai.in. Complaints concerning misleading advertising, hidden sponsorship or commercial influence may be sent to complaints@deshiai.in. Privacy and security concerns may be sent to privacy@deshiai.in and security@deshiai.in.