SAMR Issues Guide to Law Enforcement Regarding Internet Advertising Identifiability

On August 23, 2024, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released the Guide to Law Enforcement Regarding Internet Advertising Identifiability (the “Guide”).

With a total of 16 articles, the Guide refines the subjects that are obligated to identify “advertising”, diversifies the methods for the identification of “advertising”, and allows advertisers to achieve advertising identifiability through voice prompts. The Guide for the first time clarifies the scenarios in which an Internet advertising publisher or a provider of Internet information service may identify Internet advertising in packages instead of identifying them one by one. The Guide specifies the circumstances under which the commercial feature of internet information is particularly remarkable, and it is not easy for consumers to confuse an advertisement with other information. It also stresses the specific situations under which administrative punishment may not be applied in law enforcement regarding internet advertising identifiability, and adopts guiding clauses to encourage advertisers to prompt the use of AI technologies, so as to facilitate the follow-up exploration and improvement of AI technologies, and promote the well-regulated AI development.