Lowdown: SEBI’s final ad code keeps pre-approval for influencer and AI avatar ads. What changed from the draft?

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has notified a Common Advertisement Code that requires prior approval for ads featuring celebrities, including social media influencers and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated virtual influencers. SEBI’s board memorandum also outlines plans to require firms to report other ads after publication SEBI kept both requirements despite objections in its public consultation, including from MediaNama, which said in its submission that “neither model i