Understanding Internet Advertising Regulations in Russia

Understanding the complexities of internet advertising regulations in Russia is crucial for businesses and individuals alike. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of what constitutes advertising, mandatory reporting requirements, specific labeling rules, and the application of these regulations to social media platforms.

1. What is an Advertisement?

Advertising on the Internet refers to information disseminated online, in any form or by any means, aimed at an indefinite circle of persons to attract or maintain attention to an object and promote it on the market. This definition stems from p. 1 of Article 3 of the Law on Advertising.

Information placed on the Internet is not recognized as advertising if it does not meet the attributes listed in paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Advertising Act. Similarly, information listed in part 2 of Article 2 of the Advertising Law does not refer to advertising and is not subject to the Advertising Law.

According to the FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) of Russia, the following are not considered advertising:

• Information about goods and services posted on the official website, pages, or social networks of their manufacturer or seller. However, content may be recognized as advertising if special attention is paid to a particular product, excessive and positively emotionally colored information is given about it, and there are appeals to purchase it, including the indication of store addresses. In such cases, the norms of Article 18.1 of the Law on Advertising apply.
• A review of several products from different manufacturers in a video or blogger's post, if its main purpose is not to promote the product on the market.
• Organic integration (e.g., mentioning new cosmetics in videos or posts by beauty bloggers). Integration is not organic and may be recognized as advertising if the video focuses attention on the product, including by describing its characteristics and properties, or if the blogger expresses a positive attitude towards it. Such advertising is subject to the provisions of Article 18.1 of the Advertising Law.

A checklist for legitimate advertising:

• Doesn't denigrate a competitor
• Does not violate special requirements for advertising of certain goods and services
• Does not use profanity, obscene or offensive images
• Reliably informs about the conditions of purchase (price, amount, discounts, payment procedure, etc.)
• Does not contain foreign words that may distort the meaning
• Reliably discloses the assortment of products.

2. Mandatory Actions for Advertising on the Internet

Key mandatory actions for online advertising include:

• The need to send Roskomnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) information about Internet advertising.
• The need to label online advertising.
• Requirements for methods of advertising on the Internet.
• Obligation to make deductions to the budget from revenues from activities involving the distribution of internet advertising to consumers in the Russian Federation (from April 1, 2025).

2.1 Entities Notifying Roskomnadzor of Advertising

If advertising aims to attract Russian consumers, information on its placement must be provided to Roskomnadzor via an advertising data operator. Those obliged to do so, according to Part 3, 5 Article 18.1 of the Advertising Law, include:

• Advertisers
• Advertising distributors
• Advertising system operators

This information must be provided to the advertising data operator within 30 days after the end of the calendar month in which the advertisement was distributed. This obligation does not apply to the operator of social advertising (part 3 - 5 Article 18.1 of the Law on Advertising, p. 10 of the Rules of interaction between Roskomnadzor and advertising data operators). The operators then transmit this data to Roskomnadzor.

Advertisers, advertising distributors, advertising system operators, and advertising data operators are responsible for the completeness, reliability, relevance, and timeliness of information transmission (part 9, 11 Art. 18.1 of the Law on Advertising).

The composition of information about advertising distributed on the Internet, which Roskomnadzor takes into account, stores, and processes, was approved by Order of the Government of the Russian Federation of 30.05.2022 N 1362-r. It does not include:

• Information about advertising of advertisers', advertisers', advertising distributors', advertising system operators' own goods, distributed by them and/or persons belonging to the same group, which is sent by e-mail or as electronic messages to groups of users.
• Information about advertising distributed on the Internet as part of TV/radio programs and broadcasts without changes compared to terrestrial, satellite, or cable broadcasting, as well as information about the advertiser, advertising distributor, advertising system operator that distributed such advertising.

Failure to submit (or ensure submission), late submission, or submission of incomplete/unreliable information to Roskomnadzor carries administrative liability under part 15 of Article 14.3 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation. For legal entities, fines can range from 200,000 to 500,000 rubles.

2.2 Labeling of Online Advertising

Advertisements (excluding those in TV/radio programs distributed online) must contain the notation "advertisement" and an indication of its advertiser, including a website (or page) with information about the advertiser (part 16 of Article 18.1 of the Law on Advertising).

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia has clarified the following (Letter of 30.12.2022 N KT/118754/22):

• Proper indication of the advertiser includes, for example, placing its full or short name, including legal form or TIN/OGRN, in the advertisement.
• Indicating the advertiser's trademark may be considered proper if the trademark contains its name. If it only contains certain elements, further assessment is needed.
• If the advertisement contains a website with advertiser information, it must enable unambiguous identification of the advertiser.

Only advertising assigned an identifier (erid) by an advertising data operator may be distributed on the Internet (part 17, article 18.1 of the Advertising Law). An advertiser can apply for an identifier through contractual relations.

Consequently, the counterparty must be reflected in the ERIR (Unified Register of Internet Advertising). To verify its presence, one must request its erid (identifier).

What are the requirements for the ad ID?

Data requirements are set by Roskomnadzor. When placing an advertising identifier, it must be added to the site's page index. If impossible, it must be placed as a marking at the beginning of a text block, on top of a text-graphic block, or at the beginning and/or on top of a video clip. The identifier in the contrast marking must be made available for visualization (p. 11, 12 of the Identifier Requirements).

If an organization places its own advertising materials on its Internet resource, they should be marked, and information about the advertising should be sent to Roskomnadzor. If press releases are advertising in nature, information about them is considered in the general order, regardless of whether distributed free of charge (Letter Roskomnadzor of 14.11.2022 N 03-100982).

According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, it is not necessary to label advertising in Telegram if used as a messenger for exchanging messages between specific users. However, labeling is obligatory if the resource is used to convey information to a wide range of users through service opportunities (e.g., Telegram channels).

The statement "PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS, NOT ADVERTISING" does not exempt from labeling if the content shows signs of advertising. Content that promotes a product, service, or brand may be considered advertising, even if presented as a personal recommendation. If you received a benefit (money, product, service) for mentioning something, it is most likely an advertisement.

Liability for non-compliance with Internet advertising labeling requirements may arise under part 16 of Article 14.3 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation if distributed without an identifier or in violation of placement requirements. Fines:

• For citizens: from 30 thousand to 100 thousand rubles.
• For officials: from 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles.
• For legal entities: from 200 thousand to 500 thousand rubles.

Additionally, the advertising distributor is generally responsible for failure to comply with labeling requirements (lack of "advertising" marking and advertiser indication/site information). Administrative responsibility under part 1 of Article 14.3 of the CAO RF is possible, entailing fines:

• For citizens: from 2 thousand to 2.5 thousand rubles.
• For officials: from 4 thousand to 20 thousand rubles.
• For legal entities: from 100 thousand to 500 thousand rubles.

Violation of Russian advertising legislation may also entail civil liability.

2.3 Methods of Advertising on the Internet

Advertising by sending messages (e.g., to e-mail addresses, messengers) may be distributed only after the subscriber's (addressee's) consent to receive such advertising has been obtained. It is the advertising distributor's responsibility to prove consent.

Consent must be executed to unambiguously identify the person who gave consent and confirm their will to receive advertising from a specific distributor. Information of a reference nature (e.g., weather forecasts, exchange rates) cannot be interpreted as consent to receive advertising (p. 15 Resolution of the Plenum of the Russian Federation of 08.10.2012 N 58).

2.4 Deductions from Revenues from the Distribution of Internet Advertising (from April 1, 2025)

Deductions must be made from income derived from activities involving the distribution of Internet advertising aimed at attracting consumers in the Russian Federation. An exception applies to advertising on certain resources, such as websites owned by news agencies or broadcasters of TV/radio channels (part 1, 12 Art. 18.2 of the Advertising Act as amended by Federal Law of 26.12.2024 N 479-FZ).

The deductions must be made (part 1, 10 Art. 18.2 of the Law on Advertising) by:

• Advertisers
• Advertising system operators
• Persons acting on behalf and at the expense of the advertiser/distributor to distribute the advertisement or provide services for its distribution.

The amount of deductions is 3% of the quarterly income from distributing Internet advertising to consumers in the Russian Federation (part 3, 4, 11 Art. 18.2 of the Law on Advertising).

Roskomnadzor calculates the amount of deductions. However, if a Russian advertiser concludes a contract with a foreign entity for advertising distribution, the Russian advertiser calculates and deducts from service costs, transferring them to the budget itself (part 5, 6 article 18.2 of the Advertising Act).

3. Advertising in Social Networks

Social networks are classified as Internet sites (para. 1 part 1 part. 1 of Article 10.6 of the Law on Information). Therefore, Internet advertising requirements, including restrictions, prohibitions, and placement specifics, also apply to social networks.

For example, tobacco advertising, advertising of activities without a license, and inaccurate advertising are also prohibited in social networks (Decisions of the Vologda Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia of 28.02.2023 N 035/05/7-618/2022, Tatarstan UFAS of Russia from 10.03.2022 N VCh-08/3106, from 03.06.2021 N AYA-08/4495, Chelyabinsk UFAS of Russia from 07.03.2023 in case N 074/05/18-278/2023).

If you place information about your goods or services on your social network page that is recognized as advertising, you generally must report it to Roskomnadzor (part 3 of Article 18.1 of the Law on Advertising, Letter Roskomnadzor from 14.11.2022 N 03-100982).

Note that information about the range of goods you produce or sell, terms of purchase, prices, discounts, rules of use, as well as information about your business activities, promotions, and events is not considered advertising (Information from the official website of the FAS of Russia).

What restrictions are set for placing advertisements on personal pages in social networks?

Roskomnadzor maintains a list of personal pages with an audience of more than 10,000 social network users. A user who created such a page is obliged to provide Roskomnadzor with identifying information.

Such a user has no right to distribute advertising on a personal page if the information about it is not included in the list of personal pages (part 10.6 of Article 5 of the Law on Advertising). Information about inclusion in this list must be placed on the user's personal page.

3.1 Ban on advertising on Instagram

Instagram (owned by Meta, recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia) has a complicated status in Russia. Advertising on Instagram is officially restricted. The law does not prohibit mentioning goods/services or expressing personal opinions, but it prohibits distributing advertisements on this platform. If your "personal recommendation" is recognized as an advertisement, it will be illegal if distributed on a prohibited platform.

Labeling your content as "NOT ADVERTISING" will not protect you if it is found to be advertising. Moreover, despite the ban, FAS and Roskomnadzor are obliged to label advertising on this social network.

3.2 Examples of Advertising Labeling

The erid (token) must be correct and unique, received for each particular creative. You can check the token in your personal cabinet of ERIR.

The placement of the token depends on the creative format. General rules are as follows:

1. Clickable link: If there is a clickable link, the erid is embedded into the link in the format https://site.ru/?erid=XXX, where XXX is the identifier. If there is no clickable link or it's impossible to add a token, the creative itself should follow ARIR and Roskomnadzor recommendations.
2. Text format post: At the beginning of the text, include erid: XXX.
3. Article: At the beginning of the text, include erid: XXX.
   • At the same time, erid can be specified either at the beginning or at the end of a text creative.
4. Image: Over the image with the text erid: XXX or in the drop-down menu of the ad.
5. Video: At the beginning and/or on top of the video with the text erid: XXX or in the drop-down menu of the ad.
6. Online broadcasting (special case): The token is obtained after the broadcast by uploading the excerpt containing the advertisement to the ODS. After the broadcast, the video must be reuploaded to the video hosting, placing all tokens at the beginning and/or on top of the video with a few lines of general text in the format erid: XXX. If reuploading with tokens is not possible, they are placed in the drop-down menu or in the video description in erid: XXX format.
   • If the video is not recorded, during the stream, it is necessary to indicate the advertisement and specify the advertiser (e.g., by voice). After the stream, upload the advertisement to ODS, receive the token, and report. If there's nowhere to place the token, it will not be considered a violation.
7. Advertising cut-in in video: During the demonstration of the cut-in at the beginning and/or on top of the video with the text erid - XXX.
8. Circle in Telegram: Text erid: XXX in the message following the circle or in reply to the circle to maintain message coherence.
9. Podcast: By texting erid: XXX in the podcast release description, with the advertiser identified in the recording itself.