Editorial independence
Commercial support cannot buy favourable coverage or suppress criticism.
Advertising Policy
Advertising must support the platform without controlling its public-interest work.
This policy explains how India For Tomorrow separates advertising from editorial content, protects users from deceptive placement, handles sponsored relationships and approaches privacy, consent and publisher compliance.
Clear identification
Paid material must be distinguishable from research, navigation and user actions.
Safe placement
Commercial units must not encourage accidental clicks or block essential content.
User control
Privacy notices and consent controls must match applicable requirements.
Purpose and scope
This policy applies to commercial advertising, programmatic advertising, sponsorships, paid placements, affiliate relationships and other commercial support displayed or described on India For Tomorrow.
It applies to public pages, articles, research summaries, maps, problem pages, solution pages, dashboards and participation routes. Additional platform, network and legal requirements may also apply.
Policy hierarchy: Where a third-party advertising platform imposes a stricter requirement, the stricter requirement should be followed. This internal policy does not replace Google Publisher Policies, contractual terms or applicable law.
Editorial contentResearch, analysis, reporting, commentary, maps, data and public-interest explanations produced or reviewed by the platform.
Commercial advertisingMaterial served or paid for to promote a product, service, organisation or commercial objective.
Sponsored contentContent supported financially or in kind by an identified organisation and disclosed before the substantive content.
Affiliate relationshipA relationship where the platform may receive value after a user follows a link or completes an action.
Editorial and commercial separation
Advertising revenue must not influence the platform’s problem selection, evidence assessment, findings, solution recommendations, member invitations, verification decisions or correction process.
- Advertisers do not receive advance approval over independent editorial conclusions.
- Commercial payment does not create verified status, expert status or institutional partnership status.
- Negative, mixed or inconclusive evidence must not be hidden to protect a commercial relationship.
- Research contributors should disclose relevant financial or organisational conflicts.
- The platform may reject commercial support that creates an actual or perceived conflict with public-interest work.
Commercial teams and editorial teams
Where operationally practical, decisions about sales, placement and billing should remain separate from evidence review, editorial verification and correction decisions. If the same person performs multiple roles, conflicts should be documented and independently reviewed.
Placement, design and labelling rules
Commercial material must be visually distinguishable and must not be designed to look like navigation, a form control, a download button, a research citation, an official notice or a community contribution action.
Allowed principle
Clear separation
Use sufficient spacing, boundaries and recognised labelling so users can distinguish commercial material from platform content.
Allowed principle
Stable placement
Avoid layout shifts that move commercial content under a user’s pointer or touch immediately before interaction.
Not permitted
Encouraged clicking
Do not request, reward or pressure users to click advertising or interact with it to support the platform.
Not permitted
Deceptive similarity
Do not imitate menus, map controls, contribution buttons, research links, alerts or file downloads.
Not permitted
Obstruction
Do not cover essential content, block consent choices or make dismissal controls difficult to see or operate.
Not permitted
Manipulated behaviour
Do not modify click destinations, open unauthorised windows or interfere with normal browser navigation.
Google states that publishers must not encourage clicks or place Google ads where users may mistake them for menus, navigation or download links. Implementation should be checked against the current official placement rules before launch.
Invalid clicks, impressions and traffic quality
India For Tomorrow must not generate or encourage artificial advertising activity. Team members, contractors, contributors and partners must not repeatedly click advertising, ask others to click it or use automated methods to inflate impressions or interactions.
- No self-clicking, coordinated clicking, click exchanges or rewards for interaction.
- No bots, scripts, hidden refreshes or automated browsing intended to increase commercial metrics.
- No purchased traffic that obscures its origin or creates abnormal, non-human engagement.
- No misleading social posts, notifications or messages designed primarily to drive accidental interaction.
- Suspicious traffic should be investigated, documented and reported to the relevant platform when required.
Google’s AdSense programme policies prohibit publishers from clicking their own ads or artificially inflating impressions or clicks. The current programme rules should be reviewed alongside this policy.
Sponsored content and commercial relationships
Sponsored content may be considered only when the relationship is relevant, lawful and compatible with the platform’s public-interest mission.
| Relationship | Required disclosure | Editorial condition |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsored article or research explainer | State the sponsor and nature of support before the main content. | Evidence, limitations and conclusions remain subject to editorial review. |
| Sponsored event or challenge | Identify funding, selection role and judging role. | Selection criteria and conflicts must be published. |
| Affiliate relationship | Explain that the platform may receive value from a qualifying action. | Recommendations must not be presented as independent if payment influenced selection. |
| In-kind support | Describe significant non-cash support where it could affect interpretation. | Support does not grant verified, endorsed or partner status automatically. |
| Institutional grant | Identify the funder and relevant conditions. | Research independence and publication rights should be documented. |
Prohibited commercial influence
A sponsor may not purchase a favourable India-Fit assessment, alter a measured result, remove a legitimate correction, suppress a relevant risk or require the platform to misrepresent an organisational relationship.
Privacy, cookies and consent
Advertising technologies may use cookies, device information or similar identifiers. The platform should provide clear notice and, where required, obtain or communicate valid consent choices before eligible personalised advertising technologies operate.
- The privacy policy should explain the use of advertising partners and relevant cookies or identifiers.
- Users should be able to understand and revisit available privacy choices.
- Consent interfaces must not make rejection harder to understand or operate than acceptance.
- Advertising data must not be merged with sensitive community submissions in a way users would not reasonably expect.
- Exact problem-report locations, uploaded evidence, research submissions and contact details must not be used for targeted advertising without a lawful and explicit basis.
- Applicable regional requirements and the current Google consent requirements should be reviewed before activation.
Google’s required-content guidance states that publishers using relevant advertising services should disclose that third-party vendors, including Google, may use cookies to serve ads based on visits to the site or other sites. The final privacy notice must match the technologies actually deployed.
Content eligibility and sensitive subjects
India For Tomorrow covers public-interest topics that may include health, safety, disasters, justice, conflict, environment and vulnerable populations. Commercial monetisation must never weaken the care required for these subjects.
- No advertising should be enabled beside illegal content or material that violates applicable publisher policies.
- Pages involving graphic harm, exploitation, dangerous activity or other restricted subjects require additional review.
- Unverified allegations against identifiable people or organisations should not be monetised or published as fact.
- Health, financial, legal and safety content should avoid unreliable claims and clearly communicate limits.
- A page may remain free of advertising when placement would be inappropriate, unsafe, misleading or inconsistent with platform rules.
Google distinguishes between prohibited content that cannot be monetised and restricted content that may receive limited advertising demand. Current publisher policy and restriction pages should be checked for the specific subject involved.
Children, students and younger users
Pages designed for or likely to be used by children and teenagers require heightened care. Advertising configuration should follow applicable age-related, child-directed and teen protection rules.
- Do not use student submissions, school records or children’s personal information for advertising profiles.
- Avoid commercial material that exploits inexperience, social pressure or fear.
- Do not place commercial interactions where they could be confused with school tasks, learning controls or mandatory steps.
- Age-appropriate configuration and non-personalised treatment should be used where required.
- School and student research pages may be kept free of advertising when appropriate for safety, trust or learning context.
Forms, reports, donations and public actions
Commercial material should be kept away from actions where user intent must remain especially clear.
Problem-report formsDo not place commercial units between a field label and its input, beside upload controls or near the final submission control.
Research submissionsDo not imitate evidence links, source cards, institutional invitations or verification status.
Donation pagesDo not position commercial interactions where they could be confused with donation amount, payment or receipt controls.
Maps and dashboardsDo not imitate filters, legends, state selections, export controls or geographic navigation.
The platform may reserve commercial inventory across the wider site, but a specific page or area can remain free of advertising when user safety, clarity, policy risk or editorial judgement requires it.
Complaints, removal and policy review
Users may report commercial material that appears deceptive, inappropriate, unsafe, technically broken or inconsistent with this policy.
- Record the page URL, date, device context and a description or screenshot where safe.
- Do not include payment credentials, passwords, identity documents or unnecessary personal information.
- Urgent safety or malicious-code concerns should be prioritised for technical review.
- The platform may remove, block or limit a placement while an issue is investigated.
- Material policy changes should update this page and its effective or review date.
This policy should be reviewed when advertising technology, consent configuration, publisher requirements, business relationships or applicable law materially changes.
Official policy references
The following official resources should be checked during implementation and regular compliance review. External requirements may change after this internal policy is published.
- Google AdSense ad placement policies
- Google AdSense programme policies
- Google Publisher Policies
- Google Publisher Restrictions
- Google required privacy-policy content
- Google Privacy Policy
Important: This page describes India For Tomorrow’s intended internal standards. It is not legal advice and does not guarantee approval by Google AdSense or another advertising platform.
Internal pre-publication review
Check clarity and safety before enabling a commercial placement.
This browser-only checklist is an operational aid. Completing it does not replace technical, legal or platform-policy review.
Placement review0 of 8 checked
Disclosure standard
The relationship should be understandable before a user acts.
Advertising
Commercial material served independently from editorial content and identified in a recognised, unambiguous manner.
Sponsored content
Financial or in-kind support identified before the main content, with editorial responsibility explained.
Affiliate relationship
A potential financial benefit disclosed close to the relevant link or recommendation.
Institutional grant
The funder, relevant conditions and safeguards for research independence stated clearly.
Conflict of interest
A relationship that could reasonably affect interpretation disclosed with the work it concerns.
No commercial relationship
Where confusion is likely, the platform may clarify that a listed institution or example is not a sponsor or partner.
Frequently asked questions
Advertising, independence and user protection.
No. Commercial support must not determine evidence status, findings, corrections, rankings or public-interest recommendations.
No. A page or area may remain free of advertising when user safety, content sensitivity, placement clarity, technical risk or editorial judgement requires it.
No. Users must not be asked, rewarded or pressured to click commercial material, and placements must not be designed to produce accidental interaction.
No. Sponsored support must be disclosed clearly. The platform should also explain who retained editorial responsibility and whether the sponsor influenced scope or distribution.
No. Approval and continued eligibility are determined by Google under its current policies, technical review, account status and other requirements.
See a commercial placement that appears misleading or unsafe?
Send the page address, date, device context and a short description. Do not include passwords, payment credentials or unnecessary personal information.