SmartNews is committed to maintaining a fair, transparent, and user-friendly advertising environment. We seek to have a wide variety of compelling and effective advertising on our app. We depend on our partners to understand our philosophy and approach, knowing that they too want to establish and maintain an inviting advertising environment.
This policy outlines our guidelines and restrictions to ensure high standards of quality, integrity, and user experience on our apps and platforms.
General Prohibitions: To uphold our standards, SmartNews prohibits the following types of advertisements:
Prohibited Products and Services:
- Controlled substances, drug paraphernalia, including cannabis and dispensaries (despite legality in some US States).
- Tobacco products, including vaporizers.
- Cryptocurrency due to the prevalence and propensity of advertising scams.
- Firearms, ammunition, or any explosive material.
- Online gambling including betting or betting related services.
- Products or services that promote deceptive or misleading practices.
Inappropriate Content:
- Graphic depictions of violence or violent outcomes.
- Overtly gross, revolting, or nauseating material designed to shock.
- Profanity or offensive language.
- Discriminatory content, including hate speech and imagery.
Adult and Sensitive Content:
- Adult content, including pornography, nudity, and overtly erotic content.
- Sexual toys, including any adult products designed to satisfy sexual desires.
- Extreme body modification or plastic surgeries.
- Health-related ads that use fear-based or anxiety-inducing tactics to frame health issues.
Political Ads and Fundraising Content:
- Peer-to-peer small-scale donation campaigns for charitable or personal causes.
- Political campaign and candidate ads, unless you are an approved partner of our Political Ads Pilot Program.
We are launching the ‘Political Ads Pilot Program’ where political campaign and candidate ads from our limited number of chosen political ads partners may earn ad revenue depending on specific conditions. Based on how our test performs and the lessons we learn, we may consider to phase it out or expand the initiative to invite more advertisers. Do stay tuned for further updates.
Additional Guidelines Data Privacy and Security:
- Advertisers must comply with stringent data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) to protect user information responsibly.
Accessibility:
- Ads must comply with application standards, including WGAC standards, for digital accessibility to ensure inclusivity for users with disabilities.
Please keep in mind that SmartNews reserves the right to evaluate and reject any advertisement that does not align with our values or may harm our users’ experience. For clarification on ad suitability, please contact your sales or partnership representative. They will be happy to discuss and provide guidance. We reserve the right to review ads for compliance with this policy. In cases where troublesome content is identified through review or user reports, we will work with our partners to remedy or suspend such advertising as necessary. This advertising policy is designed to maintain a trusted and safe advertising ecosystem on SmartNews. We appreciate our partners’ cooperation in upholding these standards for the benefit of our users and the integrity of our apps and platforms.
