Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia authorities on Sunday announced the issuance of a license (legislation), the first of its kind, to regulate celebrity ads on social media.
The Acting Minister of Commerce and Information, Majed Al-Gosaibi, said that the board of directors of the General Authority for Audio-Visual Media has created a license granted to individuals to provide advertising content on social media platforms.
He pointed out that this step comes “to regulate media content in the Kingdom, and to contribute to regulating the advertising and digital content sector in the Kingdom.”
According to the Arabic daily Sabq, the Kingdom is working on issuing the first legislation of its kind to regulate advertisements of its famous citizens.
The authority called on Saudi individuals practising this activity to obtain a licence before October 1, in order to avoid any legal consequences and fines.
According to the new regulation, the ads must be displayed on the social media account registered with the commission and linked to the licence granted to the person.
In June, the Saudi Audio-Visual Media Authority decided to ban non-Saudi celebrities from advertising on social media.
In November, the Saudi Ministry of Commerce fined 11 social media celebrities with a value of 185,000 riyals ($49,000); because they did not disclose advertising materials on Twitter and Snapchat.
The Kingdom began imposing strict control over the materials presented by celebrities and influencers on social media, with the aim of controlling the repercussions of these sites on Saudi society, and protecting the population from fraud.
