1. ASCI's new rules for AI content in ads
On 29 September 2026, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) issued its Guidelines for Responsible Labelling of Synthetically Generated Content in Advertising. A draft came out in May. The final rules take effect three months after publication, so around the end of December 2026. The trade reports we read gave no calendar date, so check ASCI's own page for the exact day.
"Synthetically generated" means made or changed by AI. The rule is about honesty: if the AI content could change how a buyer decides, and leaving it unlabelled could mislead them, you must say so.
You need a label when your ad uses:
- An AI-made influencer or brand ambassador.
- A real person's face or voice copied with their consent, for personalised messages.
- Invented events or settings that change how the buyer understands the ad.
- A demonstration of a product that does not exist yet.
- A paid or sponsored AI product suggestion. This one must carry the words "Sponsored by [Brand]".
You do not need a label for: routine edits such as colour correction, lighting fixes, noise reduction and minor blemish removal. Decorative effects that are clearly fantasy are also exempt. So are AI-written ad copy and accessibility uses such as subtitles and translations.
Labels can read "Audio/Video created using AI" or "Audio/Video enhanced using AI". Labels supplied by ad platforms count too. A label does not rescue a bad ad. Fake endorsements, deepfakes, copied work and misleading claims stay off limits with or without one.
What to do: list every place your team, agency or creators use AI in ads. Decide which ones need a label and write the wording once. Add the rule to your briefs and creator contracts before the end of December.
2. Google's September 2026 spam update
Google began its September 2026 spam update on 24 September at 9:15 a.m. Pacific time, according to its Search Status Dashboard. Google said it may take up to two weeks to finish, and that it applies globally, in all languages. It gave no list of what the update targets. Its general advice is to review its spam policies. If a site changes and Google's systems see over several months that it follows the policies, the site may recover.
The article we read on 6 October said the rollout had not finished. By the time you read this it may have. The Search Status Dashboard shows the current state.
What to do: do not rewrite your site in a panic. Wait until the dashboard says the rollout is complete. Then compare your traffic before and after in Google Search Console, on your own pages and not on a list of other sites. If you lost traffic, check your pages against Google's spam policies. Look for mass-made thin pages, bought links and pages that exist only to rank. If you did nothing wrong, give it a few weeks before changing anything.
For how a spam update differs from a core update, see our note on Google's August 2025 spam update. Our search engine optimisation (SEO) team checks client traffic after every update, so a drop is traced to its cause.
3. A number to keep in mind: broadband connections
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reported this in press release 125/2026 on 28 September 2026. Broadband subscriptions without machine-to-machine connections were 1,010.28 million at the end of August 2026. Rural areas made up 41.04% of all telephone subscriptions.
A subscription is a connection, not a person. One person may have two. Still, the number tells you the online audience is very large, and a big share of it lives outside the big cities. For more figures with their sources, see our India marketing numbers.
4. WhatsApp business message rates: checked, no change
We re-read Meta's India rates for the WhatsApp Business Platform on 9 October 2026. A marketing message costs ₹0.8631. A utility or authentication message costs ₹0.1150, with volume tiers that bring it down to ₹0.0805. Your WhatsApp provider may add its own fee. See our guide to the WhatsApp Business API, the official way for businesses to message customers in bulk, for how to work out a monthly bill.
Meta can change these rates, so we check them every month and say here if they move.
What we are watching next month
- Whether Google's spam update has finished, and whether a core update follows. Google announces both on its dashboard.
- The exact start date of ASCI's AI labelling rules.
- The dates in our 2027 marketing calendar, which we will update when states publish regional festival dates. All our marketing calendars are in one place.
Your checklist for October
- List where AI appears in your ads, and decide what needs a label.
- Add the label rule to your agency briefs and creator contracts.
- Wait for Google's rollout to finish, then compare traffic before and after.
- Check which WhatsApp message types you send and what each costs.
- Pick one number you can measure, and review it weekly. What can't be measured can't be achieved.
