Compliance Tips for Internet Advertising

2023 05/06

On February 25, 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which will come into effect on May 1, 2023. The Measures have made significant modifications to the current Interim Measures for the Administration of Internet Advertising, particularly in the following areas that require special attention.


1、 Compliance Tips for "Three Products and One Device" Internet Advertising


The compliance reminder for internet advertising of "three products and one device" (usually referring to "drugs, medical devices, health food, and formula food for special medical purposes") mainly includes two points: (1) Article 8 (1) of the Measures explicitly prohibits the disguised release of "three products and one device" internet advertising, that is, promoting the disguised release of medical and "three products and one device" advertisements under the name of introducing health and wellness knowledge. (2) Article 8 (2) of the Measures further clarifies that for those who introduce health and wellness knowledge, specific product promotion information, such as the address, contact information, and shopping links of relevant medical and "three products and one device" product operators or service providers, shall not appear on the same page or at the same time.


2、 Compliance Tips for Grass and Soft Advertising


The promotion of specific goods or services through knowledge introduction, experience sharing, consumption evaluation, and other forms of cursive or soft writing is also a form of advertising, as its content ultimately serves the promotion of specific goods or services. Article 9 (3) of the Measures clearly states that if products or services are promoted through knowledge introduction, experience sharing, consumption evaluation, and other forms of purchase, and purchase methods such as shopping links are attached, the advertising publisher shall prominently indicate "advertising". That is to say, once a shopping link is attached to a cursive or soft article, it is considered an internet advertisement and regulated in accordance with the "Measures". Advertisers should prominently indicate "advertisement" to distinguish it from users' normal introduction and experience sharing of goods or services.


3、 Compliance tips for pop-up advertisements


According to Article 10 of the Measures, "one click closure" applies to all "pop-up and other forms of internet advertising" (including open screen advertising displayed and published when launching internet applications), and the advertiser and advertisement publisher are the relevant responsible parties. Based on this, pop-up advertising compliance is reflected in prominently indicating the closure sign, ensuring one click closure. The behaviors listed in the following "Measures" do not belong to one click closure and should be avoided: closing advertisements without a closure sign or the end of the timer; Setting obstacles for closing advertisements due to false, illegible or difficult to locate closure signs; Closing advertisements requires at least two clicks; During the process of browsing the same page or document, closing and continuing to pop up advertisements can affect users' normal use of the network. Based on this, the aforementioned behavior or other behaviors that affect one click closure are not allowed in pop-up advertisements, otherwise they will be considered as non compliant advertisements.


4、 Advertisers' own filing and compliance prompts for internet advertising


Article 13 (4) of the "Measures" adds a new requirement for the filing and compliance of internet advertisements published by advertisers themselves, that is, if advertisers publish internet advertisements on their own, the advertising publishing behavior should comply with the requirements of laws and regulations, establish advertising archives and update them in a timely manner; And the relevant archives shall be kept for no less than three years from the date of the end of the advertising act.


5、 Compliance tips for sending internet advertisements to specific devices


In response to the frequent occurrence of advertisements on specific devices such as smart appliances, navigation devices, and intelligent transportation vehicles, Article 17 (2) of the "Measures" clearly stipulates that without the consent, request, or explicit refusal of users, internet advertisements shall not be sent to their transportation vehicles, navigation devices, smart homes, etc., and advertisements or advertising links shall not be attached to the emails or internet instant messaging messages sent by users. Therefore, caution should be exercised when sending internet advertisements to the aforementioned specific devices.