Where the 20 standards come from
Article 17 of the Media Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023, lists 15 standards that "everyone who practises an activity or profession in the field of media must abide by". Its last item lets the Executive Regulation add more. The regulator then published the full list of 20 in May 2025, the same month the fines in Cabinet Resolution 42/2025 took effect (Gulf Today).
The regulator is now the National Media Authority (NMA). It took over the UAE Media Council's functions, sets content standards and monitors published content across the UAE, free zones included. A brand page, a clinic's TikTok and a creator's stories all count as media content.
Most of the 20 standards concern news and politics. A café's reel is unlikely to harm foreign relations. But eight of them come up in ordinary marketing, and those are the ones a pre-publish check should cover.
The marketer's checklist
We grouped the standards by the question you actually ask about a reel or an ad. The fine range is from Table 2 of Cabinet Resolution 42/2025.
| Check before posting | Standard (No.) | Typical marketing trap | Fine range, AED |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does anything joke about or use religion, prayer, Quran verses or holy places? | Religion (1) | Ramadan promos with religious text as a sales line; mosques as a backdrop for a product | 100,000 – 1,000,000 |
| Are the flag, emblem, rulers' images or national symbols used? | Governance and symbols (2) | Flag colours turned into a discount badge for National Day; AI images of public figures | 50,000 – 500,000 |
| Does it mock Emirati dress, dialect or heritage? | Heritage and identity (5) | Comedy sketches in a kandura; parody accents | 25,000 – 150,000 |
| Would a conservative family find it offensive? | Social values (8), public morals (12) | Revealing outfits, suggestive scripts, "edgy" humour | 20,000 – 100,000 |
| Is anyone filmed who did not agree to it? | Privacy (10) | Diners in the background, staff, other people's children | 20,000 – 100,000 |
| Does it show or glamorise drugs, crime or dangerous stunts? | Inciting crime (11) | Street racing for a car rental ad | 30,000 – 150,000 |
| Is every claim true and attributable? | False news (13), rumours (15) | Fake "as seen on" badges; invented statistics | 10,000 – 100,000 |
| Is the ad itself respectful of UAE culture and values? | Ad content (18) | Imported global creative that was never localised | 20,000 – 100,000 |
| Is it suitable for children, and are children treated properly? | Age rating (19), children's rights (20) | Kids in ads without guardian consent; adult themes in family content | 5,000 – 50,000 |
The remaining standards (foreign relations, national unity, sectarian strife, the judicial and security system, the currency, hostile groups, choice of guests) rarely touch commercial content. They still apply, and they carry some of the highest fines.
Ads have a second layer
Passing the 20 standards is not enough for an ad. Article 20(2) of the Media Law says "all advertisers must include in all advertising materials something that explicitly and clearly indicates that it is advertising material". Article 33 of the Executive Regulation then adds ten conditions, including:
- no ambiguous or misleading claims, no exaggeration, no "exclusive", no disparaging competitors;
- ads clearly separated from other content;
- disclosure of any financial return from the brand;
- rules on using the UAE flag, emblem and anthem;
- no promotion of alcohol, narcotics, tobacco or smoking, directly or indirectly;
- prior approval for real estate, medical, financial, education and food ads.
The fines for those are in a different table: AED 20,000 then AED 50,000 for breaching Article 33, AED 10,000 for skipping a sector approval. Our full table of media law fines has every row.
What nobody tells you
- There is no pre-approval for ordinary posts. Nobody clears your reel before it goes live. The standards are enforced after publication, often on a complaint, so the check has to happen inside your team or agency.
- "It's a global campaign" is not a defence. Standard 18 applies to the ad content itself. Creative made for Europe and posted to a UAE audience is judged by UAE standards.
- Comments and reposts can count. The law covers content that is "published or circulated". If you repost a creator's video, you circulate it.
- The committee weighs impact. The same breach can sit at the lowest or highest level depending on reach and harm, so a viral post costs more than an unnoticed one.
Vladimir Chernyshev, GM: run the script through the table above before the shoot day is booked. It takes ten minutes. Reshooting a reel because a background diner complained, or because a kandura joke slipped through, costs a whole day.
A ten-minute routine
- Read the script against the checklist table.
- On set, keep a release form for every recognisable face, or frame them out.
- Before posting, check the caption: ad label, disclosure, no superlatives you cannot prove.
- If the ad is about property, health, finance, education or food, confirm the sector approval number.
- Not sure whether the campaign needs an NMA permit? Run it through our permit checker.
Related: UAE Advertiser Permit, alcohol, shisha and tobacco ads.
