Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Arabia authorities announced the legalization of the provision of advertisements through the accounts of celebrities on social media, giving them a period of two months to obtain a license to practice this activity.
The Saudi Minister of Information in charge, Dr Majid Al-Qasabi, indicated that the license to provide advertising content through social media platforms contributes to regulating the advertising sector and digital content in the Kingdom.
The Saudi media stated that the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Audio-Visual Media approved the creation of a license for individuals to submit advertising content through social media platforms (reliable) to the executive regulations of the audio-visual media system.
The authority asked Saudi individuals practising this activity to obtain a license through the authority’s electronic services platform (Ilam) before 10/1/2022 in order to avoid taking legal measures against them, such as penalties and fines.
The regulation included the obligation to adhere to the conditions and controls for individuals to submit advertising content through social media platforms and controls for advertising content and classifications (including age classification), and the requirements also included that advertisements must be displayed through an account registered with the authority and linked to the license granted to the licensee, in addition to the necessity of Note before advertising by indicating that it is advertising content, whether in writing or verbally, provided that this is clearly for the recipient.
It is also necessary to verify the products or services to be announced and to be licensed according to the relevant laws and regulations.
The controls apply to all advertisements submitted by Saudi individuals through all social media platforms, whether (clips, images, gifs, texts, phrases, etc.).
