The “Administrative Measures for Internet Advertising” has been implemented from May 1, 2023

The “Administrative Measures for Internet Advertising” (hereinafter referred to as the “New Measures”) implemented on May 1, 2023, has replaced the “Interim Measures for Internet Advertising Management” (hereinafter referred to as the “Old Measures”) implemented on September 1, 2016. Compared to the “Old Measures”, the key changes are as follows:

1. Regarding the advertisements of special commodities or services (such as pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics and medical deviceswhich are subject to censorship, in addition to the censorship as required by the “Old Measures”, the “New Measures” adds 2 requirements, which are the advertisements subject to censorship shall be released in strict accordance with the contents having passed the examination and may not be edited, spliced or otherwise modified; and it is prohibited to publish in disguised form advertisements for medical treatment, drugs, medical devices, health food or formula food for special medical purposes in the form of introducing knowledge on health or health maintenance. The “New Measures” also provide examples, stating that for the introduction of knowledge on health and health maintenance, the address, contact details, shopping links and other contents of commodity operators or service providers of relevant special commodities or services shall not be presented on the same page or together with such knowledge.
2. The bidding ranking advertisementsshall be indicated conspicuously with the word “Advertisement”, in order to distinguish them from the natural search results. The “Old Measures” stipulates that paid search advertisements shall be prominently distinguished from natural research results. However, since the “Electronic Commerce Law” stipulates that bidding ranking advertisements should indicate “advertising”, the “Old Measures” has updated this requirement.
3. To set provisions regarding the“Must-buy” advertisements. The “New Measures” stipulates that except for circumstances where advertisements are prohibited by the laws and administrative regulations from being published or published in a disguised form, advertisement publishers shall indicate conspicuously the word “Advertisement” for goods or services promoted by means of knowledge introduction, experience sharing, consumption evaluation, etc., with shopping links and other purchase methods attached.
4. To Refine the prohibited behaviors of closing the “pop-up” class with one click. According to the “New Measures”, situations where one-click closure is not allowed include: (I) there is no closure sign, or the advertisement cannot be closed until the time expires;(II) the closure sign is false, unidentifiable or difficult to be positioned, etc., setting up obstacles for closing the advertisement;(III) it takes more than two clicks to close the advertisement;(IV) during the browsing of the same page or the same document, advertisements continue to pop up after the advertisement is closed, which affects the normal internet access by users; or(V) other behaviors that affect the closure of the advertisement by one click. In addition, the “New Measures” also mentions that open-screen advertisements should refer to the pop-up advertisements.
5. To guarantee the safe and correct usage of software related to government services. The “New Measures” stipulates that it is not allowed to insert advertisements ranked under competitive bidding in the search results of government service websites, webpages, Internet applications, official accounts and so on.
6. To set the requirement on the archive of advertisements’ archives.The “New Measures” stipulates that the relevant archives shall be kept for at least three years from the date of end of advertisement publishing. This requirement links to the time limit of the litigation matter.
7. To set the traceability mechanism for advertising liabilities. The “New Measures” stipulates that when publishing an Internet advertisement containing a link, an advertiser, advertising agency and advertisement publisher shall verify the advertisement contents in the link at the next lower level which are related to the front-end advertisement.
8. To clarify the liabilities of each role in the live-streaming advertisements. The “New Measures” stipulates that a live-streaming room operator shall bear the responsibilities and obligations of the advertising agency and advertisement publisher in accordance with the law; a live-streamer shall bear the responsibilities and obligations of the advertising agency and advertisement publisher in accordance with the law; and a live-streamer recommends or testifies for a commodity or service in his/her own name or image, which constitutes an advertising endorsement, he/she shall bear the responsibilities and obligations of an advertising endorser in accordance with the law.