In the near future, the UAE will enter into force new rules for people who advertise goods and services on social networks.
The UAE National Media Council (NMC) said that in the very near future, the UAE will begin to apply new rules for licensing commercial and advertising activities on the Internet.
The new rules are aimed at ensuring transparency and legitimacy of the use of social networks in the UAE as a means of disseminating advertising information.
Below we have compiled everything you need to know about these changes.
- The law applies to residents of the UAE and agents of influence working in the UAE.
- The law applies to all agents of influence on social networks that use their social media channels to advertise and / or sell goods.
- The account holder is responsible for obtaining a license (and not a third party) for promotion activities in social networks.
- This includes "... any paid or unpaid form of presenting and / or promoting ideas, products or services through electronic means or network applications." This includes items, services and knowledge that an agent of influence can obtain for free from an advertiser (in other words, “Gifts”).
- Influence agent will have to separate the sponsored channels on social networks and / or paid content from editorial content. This means placing visible #ad or #sponsored tags inside posts, (in other words, do not hide them in the comments).
- When promoting products from the field of medicine and disease prevention, additional requirements apply. Individuals who advertise detox teas, skin care products, etc., should be especially careful when posting.
- Influence agents must be licensed by the end of June 2018.
- The cost of the license is 15,000 dirhams, the document is valid for 12 months.
- How does the NMC plan to control influence agents? Most likely, the body will respond to complaints made against specific individuals. Influence agents who violate the law are most likely to be “identified” by their colleagues in the workshop, or persons affected by their actions.
- Regulators will "monitor agents of influence" in the future.
