UAE advertiser permit: is a brand fined when its influencer has none? The federal fines schedule, line by line

None of the 36 lines in the federal fines schedule names the UAE business that pays a social-media creator who holds no advertiser permit, and that does not put the business outside it. Data Nexus read Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 and its annex in English and Arabic — 16 violations in Table 1, 20 in Table 2 — and searched every line in both languages for the party that commissions, contracts, sponsors or pays. The line for the missing permit, item 11, reaches the person who provides the content: a written warning, then AED 20,000, then AED 50,000.

That does not make the brand safe. Item 13 fines breach of the Chairman’s permit decision, a warning then AED 10,000, and the regulator’s Advertiser Permit Guide (21 August 2025) says that decision requires businesses to contract only with permitted creators. Items 14 and 15 fine the advertisement itself — a missing sector approval at AED 10,000, any breach of Article 33 of Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024 at AED 20,000 then AED 50,000 — and name no subject. Whether the fines resolution reaches a brand that does not itself practise media activity turns on its Article 2, one of the open questions this piece sets out.

Data Nexus could not find the text of the permit decision on the UAE Legislation portal or the National Media Authority’s legislation page. This is a reading of published instruments, not legal advice.

What this means if you are…

A brand or small business that pays creators

On Data Nexus’s reading of Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025, no line of its annex names the business that pays a creator, but that is not a safe harbour. Item 13 fines breach of the permit decision, a warning then AED 10,000, and the regulator’s guide (21 August 2025) states that the decision requires you to contract only with permitted creators. The clearer route is the advertisement: property, health, financial, education and food advertising needs the relevant authority’s approval (Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024, Art. 33(10)). Item 14 fines its absence, or a departure from its conditions, at AED 10,000; item 15 fines any Article 33 breach at AED 20,000, then AED 50,000. Neither names who is fined, so either can land on you. A misleading claim in your brief breaches Article 33(2) whoever posts it, and if your own account co-publishes or boosts the post, you may be the one providing it.

An agency or marketing team that books creators for clients

On Data Nexus’s reading, no line in the annex to Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 names the agency that books an unpermitted creator. The regulator’s Advertiser Permit Guide (21 August 2025) states that the permit decision gives agencies duties of their own: keep for three years the names of the permitted creators they contract, copies of what those creators published and the trade-licence details of the businesses that requested it. A visitor can be permitted only through an agency the regulator has accredited, at AED 500 per three months (Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2025, item 61), under a contract stating the agency’s legal responsibility. Your own licence is a separate question: Article 27(1) of Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024 lists producing advertisements and advertising consultancy among the activities the regulator licenses.

A platform or larger advertiser running creator programmes at scale

On Data Nexus’s reading of the annex to Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025, scale multiplies the advertisement lines rather than the permit line. Item 11 runs per creator and starts with a written warning. Item 14 doubles on repetition and item 15 steps to AED 50,000 and then doubles; Article 3(1)(b) allows any fine repeated within a year to be doubled. The resolution does not say whether each post is a separate violation. Table 2 penalties weigh the content’s media, economic, political and social impact (Art. 4(3)). Article 23 of Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023 caps fines at AED 1,000,000 (AED 2,000,000 on repetition) and allows closure and the cancellation of licences, permits and approvals. Brand accounts that republish creator content may be within items 7 and 11 themselves.

What the annex says, and whom each line is about

Every line of the annex to Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 that a creator campaign touches names either whoever provides the content or nobody; none names whoever pays. Table 1 lists 16 violations of the practice of media activity; Table 2 lists 20 violations of content standards, each with four amounts by severity, reserved to the regulator (Art. 3(2)). Amounts are in UAE dirhams, from the annex in force since 29 May 2025, read against the Arabic, which prevails. The annex says “the Council”; since 1 January 2026 the National Media Authority exercises the UAE Media Council’s powers (Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025, Art. 13(1)).

Item 11 is written for whoever provides the content

Data Nexus read item 11 in both languages. It fines “a natural or legal person who provides advertising or media content, whether for a fee or free of charge, via social media or other modern technological means without obtaining a permit”; in the Arabic the subject is الشخص الطبيعي أو الاعتباري, the natural or legal person. Its subject is the one who provides the content. The payer is not named, but a brand that co-publishes, reposts or runs the post as a paid advert from its own account may itself be providing it.

Two lines can describe an unpermitted creator

Item 1, the general line for any media activity without a licence or permit, is AED 10,000 with 30 days to rectify, then AED 40,000, with closure if not rectified. A creator’s advertising is media activity under Article 8(1) of the Decree-Law, so item 1 may also apply, and the resolution does not say which line the regulator uses. Of nine non-official Google UAE results Data Nexus read for “influencer license uae” and “advertiser permit uae” on 9 November 2026, three gave item 1’s AED 10,000 as the entry fine and none gave item 11’s written warning. The AED 150 a day, up to AED 3,000, sometimes attached to expired permits is item 3, a media institution’s licence; posting after a permit expires is item 12, AED 10,000 then AED 20,000.

Item 13 enforces a decision whose text is not on the public portals

Item 13 fines failure to comply with “Chairman Decision No. (9) of 2024 regarding the conditions and procedures for granting a permit to a natural person to provide advertising content on social media”: a warning, then AED 10,000. It names no subject, so it reaches whoever the decision binds. The regulator’s guide (21 August 2025) and Al Tamimi & Company (edited 15 October 2026) put the permit on Decision No. 3 of 2025 instead. Data Nexus could not find either text on the UAE Legislation portal or the National Media Authority’s legislation page on 9 November 2026.

Items 14 and 15 are about the advertisement, and name nobody

Item 14 fines “displaying any publicity or advertisement… without obtaining the approval of the concerned authority or without adhering to the requirements set by such authorities”: AED 10,000, doubled on repetition. The Concerned Authority is a government entity other than the media regulator whose approval is required (Decree-Law, Art. 1). Item 15 fines a breach of Article 33 of Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024: AED 20,000, then AED 50,000, then doubled.

Article 33 binds persons, establishments and media institutions, “including those operating within media free zones”. A brief decides four of its ten conditions: no misleading claims or disparagement of competitors (33(2)); identification as advertising (33(6)); disclosure of payment (33(7)); and the relevant authority’s approval for property, medical, financial, educational and food advertising (33(10); the guide and WAM say before publication). Because 33(10) restates item 14’s duty almost word for word, an unapproved advertisement can fall under both lines. Under the Arabic of 33(7) the advertiser must disclose whether it receives any material return within a commercial relationship with “the person or entity that owns the product”; in a creator post, the natural reading makes the creator that advertiser and the brand that owner. Article 20(2) of the Decree-Law puts the advertising label on “all advertisers” without defining the word, so it may reach both.

Table 2 is graded by severity, and the English drifts

Table 2 is decided by a standing committee of three to seven media specialists (Art. 4). Its advertising line, item 18, runs AED 20,000 to 100,000. Item 16 is translated as “misleading information”, but the Arabic, الأخبار المضللة, means misleading news, so a misleading product claim sits more naturally under Article 33(2). Items 19 and 20, age ratings and children’s rights, run AED 5,000 to 50,000 and matter because the regulator’s guide allows creators aged 15 to 17.

The annex, line by line: what it costs and whom it names

The lines Data Nexus judged most relevant to a creator campaign, with the subject as the text states it. Amounts in AED from the annex to Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025, in force since 29 May 2025, read against the Arabic on 9 November 2026.

Line	Offence	Amount (AED)	On repeat	Whom the text names
Table 1, item 1	Media activity without a licence or permit	10,000; rectify within 30 days	40,000; closure if not rectified	No subject stated
Table 1, item 3	Licence not renewed 30 days after expiry	150 a day, up to 3,000	—	Implied: the licence holder
Table 1, item 7	Printing, circulating or publishing read, audio or visual media content without the permit	20,000	Doubled	No subject stated
Table 1, item 11	Advertising or media content on social media without a permit, paid or unpaid	Written warning	20,000, then 50,000, then doubled	“A natural or legal person who provides” it
Table 1, item 12	Such content after the permit expires	10,000	20,000, then doubled	The natural or legal person who continues
Table 1, item 13	Breach of Chairman Decision No. 9 of 2024 on the creator permit	Warning	10,000	No subject: whoever the decision binds
Table 1, item 14	Advertisement without the concerned authority’s approval, or outside its requirements	10,000	Doubled	No subject stated
Table 1, item 15	Breach of Article 33 of CR 68/2024, the approval duty in 33(10) included	20,000	50,000, then doubled	None; Article 33 binds persons, establishments and media institutions
Table 2, item 16	Rumours and misleading news	By severity: 10,000 / 20,000 / 40,000 / 80,000	No ladder; Art. 3(1)(b) doubling may apply	No subject stated
Table 2, item 18	Advertising content not respecting the State’s culture, identity and values	By severity: 20,000 / 40,000 / 80,000 / 100,000	No ladder; Art. 3(1)(b) doubling may apply	None: framed on the content
Table 2, items 19 and 20	Not observing age ratings; not respecting children’s rights	By severity: 5,000 / 10,000 / 20,000 / 50,000	No ladder; Art. 3(1)(b) doubling may apply	No subject stated
Decree-Law, Art. 23	Any violation of the Decree-Law or its regulations	Warning, or 1,000 to 1,000,000	Doubled, to at most 2,000,000	Persons, establishments, media institutions “or those in charge of them”
No line	Commissioning or paying a creator who has no permit	—	—	Searched in English and Arabic; not present. Item 13 may reach it through the permit decision

What being permitted costs: 2018 against 2026

The federal fee fell from a reported AED 15,000 a year in 2018 to nothing for three years. Data Nexus found no primary text of the 2018 fee, so that column rests on 2018 reports; the 2026 column rests on the instruments and the regulator’s pages, read on 9 November 2026.

Point	2018: electronic media licence	2026: advertiser permit
Instrument	National Media Council electronic media regulation, announced 6 March 2018 (Gulf Business, 6 March 2018); registration urged by the end of May 2018, the grace period ending in early June (Khaleej Times, 15 May 2018)	Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023, Art. 12(2); a Chairman’s decision whose text Data Nexus could not find; launched 30 July 2025 (WAM)
Fee, citizen or resident	AED 15,000 a year, as reported (Khaleej Times, 15 May and 5 June 2018; Hadef & Partners, 22 November 2018)	AED 0 for three years from issue, then AED 1,000 for issue or renewal, payable from the fourth year (CR 41/2025 Art. 5, item 60; NMA service page)
Validity	One year, renewable (Rouse, 21 September 2018)	One year for citizens and residents (regulator’s guide, August 2025)
Also needed	A trade licence; the two reported at AED 30,000 together (The National, 16 May 2018)	For a resident, a commercial licence held by one individual, and the regulator’s training programme (NMA service page; guide)
Visitors	Not addressed in the sources read	AED 500 per three months (CR 41/2025 item 61), filed by an accredited agency (guide, p. 11), six months at most (NMA visitor permit page)
Penalty for none	None in the regulation itself; officials were reported warning of fines of up to AED 5,000 (Hadef & Partners, 22 November 2018; Gulf Business, 6 March 2018)	Written warning, then AED 20,000, then AED 50,000 (CR 42/2025 item 11)

Where the brand’s exposure actually lies

The clearest published route to the brand is the advertisement itself; Data Nexus ranks the routes by how directly the published text reaches the business that pays.

• The approval — item 14 with Article 33(10). Item 14 names no subject, and the regulator’s guide (August 2025, p. 10) and WAM (30 July 2025) list obtaining the approval among the creator’s duties, so the line can reach either party — the brand most directly where the sector regulator issues the approval to the product’s owner, which Data Nexus did not check authority by authority. A media permit does not substitute for the approval (Decree-Law, Art. 7). On 11 September 2025 the Media Council said it had summoned an advertiser over medical claims made without health-authority approval, urging “individual and corporate advertisers” to comply (WAM); it stated no fine and named no commissioning business.

• The conditions — item 15 with Article 33. Claims and identification as advertising (Art. 33(2), (6)) bind companies too, and in free zones: Article 2 of Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 covers the State “including its free zones”, and Article 6(1)(B) of the Decree-Law applies State law to free-zone media activity carried on outside the zone. Disclosure of payment (Art. 33(7)) and the Article 20(2) label fall on the advertiser — on the natural reading the creator, though Article 20(2) may reach the brand too — so a brand secures them by contract.

• The contracting duty — the guide with item 13. The guide states that the permit decision requires a business engaging a creator to sign a written agreement and give the regulator a copy on request, to contract only with permitted creators listed in the regulator’s database, to check their compliance and not to deal with an unpermitted visitor, among other duties on page 11. Item 13 fines breach of the decision; whether it reaches the brand turns on a text Data Nexus could not find.

• The content standards — Table 2. Item 18 is framed on the advertising content, not its author; who is fined is left to the committee.

• Abu Dhabi — a reported emirate licence that reaches businesses. In a circular of 19 June 2024 the Department of Economic Development required licensed businesses to hold its permit for any advertising, promotional or marketing activity, with penalties for businesses of AED 3,000 to AED 10,000 (WAM, 19 June 2024). It told WAM the next day that the requirement applies from 1 July 2024 and that its advertising licence costs AED 1,250 for an individual establishment and AED 5,000 for a business (WAM, 20 June 2024). Data Nexus read the reports, not the decision, and did not check for later changes.

Law-firm commentary points the same way without naming a provision. Al Tamimi & Company, in an article edited on 15 October 2026, advised businesses to confirm a creator holds and correctly displays a valid permit before content goes live, “since liability for non-compliant advertising content can extend to the business commissioning it”. Pinsent Masons wrote on 29 January 2026 that the regime also reaches businesses that pay for or arrange promotional content. None of the 2025–26 commentary Data Nexus read names the item that would fine a brand for its creator’s permit status; item 13 is the likeliest candidate.

What is genuinely uncertain

• Whether item 13 reaches the brand. That turns on whom the permit decision binds, and whether a line naming the 2024 decision reaches the 2025 one. Article 16(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 keeps the Media Council’s decisions in force until replaced, without saying which applies.

• Whether a brand “provides” what a creator posts. Item 11 covers a legal person, so a company posting advertising itself without a permit is within its words, and Article 12(1) of the Decree-Law treats promotion and advertising on social media as an activity to be licensed or permitted. Whether commissioning is providing, no text says. A brand that republishes or boosts creator content may also be within item 7, publishing media content without the permit (AED 20,000).

• Whether paying is “practising media activity”. The Arabic of Article 2 of Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 (…التي تُمارس الأنشطة الإعلامية) leaves open whether “that practise media activities” qualifies the persons it covers. The same question decides items 14 and 15: if a brand is outside Article 2 they miss it too, and if producing advertising content is media activity under Article 8(1) of the Decree-Law, the brand is inside and item 1 is open against it as well.

• Which line applies when two fit. Items 1 and 11 can both describe an unpermitted creator, and items 14 and 15 an unapproved advertisement, because Article 33(10) restates item 14’s duty. The resolution does not say how Article 3(1)(b) doubling interacts with each item’s own ladder, or whether each post is a separate violation.

• The brand’s own account. A company cannot hold the advertiser permit; whether it needs a media licence depends on the activities on its trade licence (Al Tamimi & Company, edited 15 October 2026). The annex does not settle it.

• The enforcement date. WAM said on 30 July 2025 that the permit would take effect in three months. The extension to 31 January 2026 is reported by Gulf Business and Pinsent Masons; Data Nexus did not retrieve the official notice.

What this does not show

• No published enforcement against a brand. Data Nexus found no official report of a fine on a business for commissioning an unpermitted creator, nor a stated fine on a creator for lacking a permit. Reported actions since 2025 concern content: a referral to the Federal Public Prosecution on 26 August 2025 (WAM), the proceedings of 11 September 2025 (WAM) and two three-month permit suspensions in August 2026 (Gulf Today). Absence of a report is not absence of enforcement.

• Not the binding text of the brand duties. They come from the regulator’s guide, which paraphrases a decision this piece could not read.

• Not a translation of record. The Arabic prevails; every load-bearing line here was read in it.

• Not the rest of UAE law. Article 23(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023 keeps penalties under other legislation in play, and Data Nexus read none of it for this piece: not Federal Law No. 14 of 2016 on administrative violations, which the fines resolution cites; not the cybercrimes law, Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021; not the Penal Code’s rules on participation; not consumer protection, Federal Law No. 15 of 2020; nor sector regulators’ approval rules, any emirate’s rules beyond the Abu Dhabi reports, whether a contract with an unpermitted creator is enforceable or the platforms’ branded-content rules. Any of these can reach a brand the annex does not name.

• Not free-zone authorities’ own media rules. Data Nexus read the federal instruments only.

What we would do about it

Six things, in this order. They are Data Nexus’s judgement, built on the annex to Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 and Article 33 of Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024.

Where this touches what we sell

Data Nexus sells digital marketing, including paid social and partnerships, under a UAE media licence for media and marketing consultancy, so this reading is written by an interested party: a business worried about its creator programme is a prospective client whichever way the text reads, which is why its limits are stated in full. Data Nexus is not a law firm and does not review contracts for their legal effect; for that, use a UAE-licensed legal consultant. To have a campaign run with the permit check, the approval and the label built into delivery, see our digital marketing practice or contact us.

Questions people are actually asking

Do I need a licence to be an influencer in the UAE?

Yes, to publish advertising on social media, paid or unpaid, for a product that is not your own. Article 12(2) of Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023 provides for permits for natural persons who advertise on social media; promoting your own product or company on your personal account is exempt (WAM, 30 July 2025). A resident’s permit needs a commercial licence held by one individual and a visitor’s is filed by an accredited agency; since 1 January 2026 the National Media Authority issues both.

How much does the UAE advertiser permit cost?

Nothing for three years from issue, under Article 5 of Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2025; from the fourth year the fee is AED 1,000 for issue or renewal (item 60). A visitor’s permit is AED 500 per three months (item 61). The trade licence a resident needs is a separate cost.

What is the fine for advertising without a permit in the UAE?

Item 11 of the annex to Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025, the line written for it, sets a written warning, then AED 20,000, then AED 50,000, doubled on further repetition. Item 1, the general line for any media activity without a licence or permit (AED 10,000, then AED 40,000), may also be read to apply, and the resolution does not say which the regulator uses. Data Nexus read both lines in the Arabic annex on 9 November 2026.

Is the brand fined if the influencer has no permit?

Possibly; no published text settles it. None of the 36 items in the annex to Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 names the business that commissions or pays a creator, but item 13 fines breach of the Chairman’s permit decision (a warning, then AED 10,000), which the regulator’s Advertiser Permit Guide (21 August 2025) says requires businesses to contract only with permitted creators; Data Nexus could not find the decision’s text on 9 November 2026. The advertisement lines also name no subject: item 14 fines a missing sector approval at AED 10,000, and item 15 fines any breach of Article 33 of Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024, that one included, at AED 20,000, then AED 50,000.

Can a company hold the advertiser permit?

No. Al Tamimi & Company reported, in an article edited on 15 October 2026, that the National Media Authority confirmed the permit is available only where the trade licence is held by one individual; the regulator’s guide lists only sole establishments, one-person LLCs and similar single-owner licences, and accepts a free-zone licence only if it is a sole establishment. A company advertising in its own name may need a media licence instead, depending on the activities on its trade licence.

Do visitors need a permit?

Yes. A visiting creator needs a visitor permit, filed by a UAE advertising or talent-management agency the regulator has accredited, at AED 500 per three months (item 61 of Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2025), for six months at most (National Media Authority visitor permit page). The regulator’s guide tells brands not to deal with an unpermitted visitor.

Is the AED 15,000 licence still required?

No. AED 15,000 a year was the fee reported in 2018 for the National Media Council’s electronic media licence; Data Nexus found it in three reports from that year (a fourth gives AED 30,000 for it and the trade licence together) but in no primary text. The current schedule sets nothing for three years and AED 1,000 from the fourth, and none of nine non-official Google UAE results Data Nexus read on 9 November 2026 gave AED 15,000 as the current federal fee.

Related reading on this site

• UAE digital compliance — the standing reference for the permit regime, marketing consent and the data law. Its August 2026 rows, compiled from press reporting, gave item 1’s AED 10,000 and AED 40,000 as the permit fine; Data Nexus corrected them against the annex on 9 November 2026.

• Meta Ads — a creator post put behind paid media is still an advertisement as Art. 1 of the Decree-Law defines it.

• Scope of work — where the label, the approval and the permit number belong in a creator brief.

• The UAE’s new civil code and your contracts — the creator agreement runs on the general civil law, which Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 replaced on 1 June 2026.

• The standard this publication holds — including what it refuses to print.

A reading of the Chairman’s permit decision belongs beside this one. It is named rather than linked because Data Nexus could not find its text on the public portals.

Method, author and review

Author	Viacheslav Kalaushin, Data Nexus
Publisher	Data Nexus Technologies Services FZ-LLC, a RAKEZ-licensed media, marketing and technology consultancy whose team includes legal training
What was read	Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025, body and annex, in English and Arabic, the Arabic annex read page by page from the rendered PDF. Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023 and Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024 in English, with the Arabic of every clause cited. Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2025 in Arabic. Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 in Arabic and English. The NMA’s permit pages in English and Arabic, and the regulator’s Arabic Advertiser Permit Guide, PDF dated 21 August 2025
How claims were checked	Every annex amount was read against the Arabic. All 36 annex items were searched in both languages for commissioning, contracting, engaging, paying, sponsoring and the advertiser, including تكليف، تعاقد، استعانة، ممول and معلن, with no occurrence. Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024 was searched in both languages for social media, natural person, visitor, influencer and agency and contains no article on creators. Google UAE results for the two queries were read on 9 November 2026; one, a video, from its snippet only
Enforcement searched	WAM releases and UAE press reports from 2025 to 9 November 2026, searched on 9 November 2026 for fines or actions under the permit regime; the four actions found concern content, and none states a fine
Second check	The 36 annex amounts, the wording of items 11, 13 and 14 and the Al Tamimi & Company quotation were re-read against their sources in a separate review pass on 9 November 2026
What could not be read	Chairman Decision No. 9 of 2024 and Decision No. 3 of 2025, whose texts Data Nexus could not find on the UAE Legislation portal or the National Media Authority’s legislation page; the official notice of the 31 January 2026 deadline
Legal review	Not yet reviewed by named external counsel. When it is, the reviewer and their qualification will be named here rather than implied
First published	9 November 2026
Last updated	9 November 2026

Disclaimer. This is analysis of published instruments, not legal advice. Data Nexus is not a law firm, and reading this creates no advisory relationship. It states the position as at 9 November 2026, with the text of the Chairman’s permit decision not found on the public portals and no published enforcement against a commissioning business. Decisions about your own campaigns should be taken with counsel who can read your contracts.

Sources

Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025 on administrative violations and penalties under the media law, on the UAE Legislation portal published by the Ministry of Justice, with its Arabic text, English annex and Arabic annex. Issued 16 April 2025, Official Gazette No. 798 of 29 April 2025, in force from 29 May 2025.

Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023 Regulating Media, Official Gazette No. 762 of 31 October 2023, in force from 1 December 2023 — Arts. 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 20, 23. Cabinet Resolution No. 68 of 2024, the Implementing Regulation, Official Gazette No. 780 of 31 July 2024, in force from 31 October 2024 — Arts. 27, 33. Cabinet Resolution No. 41 of 2025 on media services fees, in force from 29 May 2025 — Art. 5, annex items 60 and 61. Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 establishing the National Media Authority, Official Gazette No. 808 of 30 September 2025, in force from 1 January 2026 — Arts. 13, 16.

National Media Authority: the individual permit page, the visitor permit page and the media legislation page, from which the Arabic Advertiser Permit Guide was read. All read on 9 November 2026.

WAM: the Advertiser Permit launch, 30 July 2025; the referral of social-media users to the Federal Public Prosecution, 26 August 2025; the summons over an unapproved medical advertisement, 11 September 2025; the decree-law establishing the National Media Authority, 18 December 2025; Abu Dhabi’s circular to businesses contracting with influencers, 19 June 2024; Abu Dhabi’s advertising licence fees and start date, 20 June 2024.

Law-firm commentary: Al Tamimi & Company, Krishna Jhala and Courtney Mitchell, edited 15 October 2026; Pinsent Masons, Out-Law, 29 January 2026; Hadef & Partners, 22 November 2018; Rouse, 21 September 2018.

Press: Gulf Business, 6 March 2018; Khaleej Times, 15 May 2018; Khaleej Times, 5 June 2018; The National, 16 May 2018; Gulf Business, 24 October 2025; Gulf Today, 3 August 2026; Gulf Today, 20 August 2026.

Where the Arabic and the English of any instrument differ, the Arabic governs. Article and item numbers point at the portal pages linked above, so a reader can check each line in the words this was written from.