In the draft revised Law on Advertising that is being consulted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, article 23, in addition to regulations on advertising on electronic newspapers and electronic information sites, has appeared additional regulations on advertising on social networks.
However, when going into specific details, the draft law only mentions advertising on electronic newspapers and websites of State agencies; there are no regulations on advertising on websites. of businesses, individuals, and other organizations, and especially there are no specific regulations on advertising on social networks. Meanwhile, these are very popular advertising means and have many violations of advertising regulations, typically the violations mentioned above.
In recent times, the Ministry of Information and Communications has had many new ways to correct these violations. Notably are the Blacklist and Whitelist solution sets: Blacklist – list of social network channels, websites with harmful content, violating the law and brands that are not allowed to advertise on them; Whitelist – list of licensed operating units, “clean” content, recommended for advertising. These lists are constantly updated for businesses to use for advertising activities.
To improve institutions and sanctions on advertising activities on websites, electronic newspapers, and social networks, the Ministry of Information and Communications has sent a proposal to propose supplements and adjustments to regulations on online advertising activities. to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Specifically, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications, it is necessary to clarify online advertising activities, specifically: “Network advertising activities include advertising activities on electronic newspapers, websites, social networks, and applications.” online, advertising equipment using electronic media, terminal equipment and other telecommunications equipment connected to telecommunications networks and the Internet.
At the same time, online advertising activities must comply with the provisions of law on advertising such as: Online advertising must have identifying signs in words, symbols or other appropriate forms to allow users to receive advertising identified as advertising and distinguished from non-advertising information.
For advertisements that are not in a fixed area, advertising publishers and Internet advertising service providers must design features so that users can turn off advertisements in no more than 6 seconds from the start. at the start of an advertisement and no more than 2 consecutive advertisements with a total duration of no more than 7 seconds; Allows users to refuse advertising or report violations for ads with inappropriate content.
For advertisements that contain links to other websites, the advertising service provider and publisher must have a solution to check and monitor the content of the cited website. to comply with Vietnamese laws; Do not advertise links that violate Vietnamese law. Organizations and businesses that provide social networking services, when allowing users to advertise, need to have solutions or features or symbols for users to distinguish the advertising content.
Social network users distinguish regular shared and posted content and information from content and information for advertising or sponsored purposes by making their own statements or using social network features. provided by the association. Search ads must have signs that distinguish natural search results from paid, sponsored search results to prioritize display.
Advertisers, advertising service providers, and advertising publishers at home and abroad participating in online advertising activities must comply with: The provisions of Vietnamese law on advertising, regulations on cybersecurity, regulations on consumer protection, regulations on personal data protection, regulations on management, provision and use of Internet services and online information; must pay tax according to tax laws.
Do not place advertising products inside or next to content that violates the law as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 8 of the Law on Cyber Security, Article 28 of the Law on Intellectual Property; Do not advertise on electronic information sites, social networks, or applications that violate Vietnamese law.
Do not cooperate in releasing advertising products with online application websites, accounts, content channels, community pages, or community groups on social networks that have been notified by competent authorities. violate the law publicly on the Electronic Information Portal of the Ministry of Information and Communications. Implement the prevention and removal of information that violates the law at the request of the Ministry of Information and Communications and competent authorities; Provide information about organizations and individuals involved in online advertising activities that show signs of violating the law to competent authorities upon request.