The Complete Guide to Chinese Advertising Law
Advertising in China means complying with local ad laws and regulations. This means it is not simply a platform-governed issue; it is a legal compliance issue governed first by the Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China and, for online placements, by the Administrative Measures for Internet Advertising. The Advertising Law applies to advertising activities conducted within the territory of the PRC, and the internet-specific rules apply to commercial advertising delivered through websites, webpages, apps, and other internet media.
For brands advertising in China, this matters across every major platform. Whether you are running campaigns on Douyin, WeChat, RedNote, Baidu, or another channel, the same core legal framework applies: ads must be truthful, distinguishable from non-ad content, properly reviewed where required, and free of prohibited claims or restricted content. Violations can lead to ad takedowns, fines, confiscation of advertising costs, revocation of approvals, and, in serious cases, suspension or cancellation of business-related licenses.
What Laws Govern Advertising in China?
The two core laws that govern advertising in China are:
- The Advertising Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国广告法)
- The Administrative Measures for Internet Advertising (互联网广告管理办法)
The Advertising Law sets the core rules for what ads can and cannot say, which categories need prior review, and how advertisers, agents, and publishers are expected to operate.
The Internet Measures extend those requirements to digital formats such as search ads, feed ads, livestream ads, paid listings, and pop-up advertising. In practical terms, the Advertising Law establishes the core legal standard, while the internet measures explain how that standard applies online. Platform policies then sit on top as an additional enforcement layer.
When Does Chinese Advertising Law Apply?
The Advertising Law applies to any advertisers, ad agents, and ad publishers engaged in advertising activities within or targeted towards the territory of the People’s Republic of China. The internet measures apply to commercial advertising activities carried out within or targeted towards Mainland China using internet media to market goods or services directly or indirectly.
That means foreign brands should not assume they are outside the scope just because they are using an international team, an offshore entity, or a platform with global operations. If the campaign is aimed at users in China or runs through China-facing media or platforms, Chinese ad law is likely to be relevant. That is the safest operational assumption based on the territorial wording of the law.
What Are the Core Requirements of Chinese Advertising Law?
At the highest level, Chinese advertising law requires that ads be truthful, lawful, and clearly distinguishable from non-ad content. It also places additional restrictions on certain categories, certain claims, and certain online formats.
In practice, the law regulates more than just obvious fraud. It also regulates:
- How ads are labelled
- What documentary support sits behind them
- Whether the format is misleading
- Whether a sector requires prior review
- Whether the ad could be mistaken for editorial, review, or user-generated content
Compliance is therefore not only about wording. It is also about format, context, and process
Ads Must Be Truthful and Lawful
China’s Advertising Law starts from a simple principle: advertisements must be truthful and lawful and must not contain false information or mislead consumers. The law defines false advertising broadly, including fake or unverifiable statistics, fabricated research, misleading claims about product attributes, and false claims about the effects of using a product or service.
In practice, that means advertisers should be cautious with:
- performance claims
- before-and-after framing
- unsupported figures
- guarantee-style language
- superiority claims that cannot be substantiated
One of the biggest mistakes foreign brands make in China is assuming that promotional exaggeration that might be tolerated elsewhere will also be acceptable under Chinese law. In many cases, it will not.
Ads Must Be Clearly Identifiable as Ads
One of the most important compliance rules in China is recognisability.
The Advertising Law requires advertisements to be distinguishable and identifiable as advertisements. The internet measures repeat that standard for online ads and specifically requires paid listings for products and services to be clearly labelled as advertisements and distinguished from natural search results. More recent enforcement guidance from SAMR has also made clear that regulators are paying close attention to paid results, review-style content with purchase links, and ad content inserted into information streams without clear advertising identification.
From a practical standpoint, the safest general label to rely on is “广告”. That is the clearest legal label reflected in the internet rules and related guidance. Some platforms and creators may also use terms such as “合作“; however, this term is better understood as a platform or creator disclosure convention rather than a clean statutory label to rely on as a general legal rule.
What Claims Are Prohibited in Chinese Advertising?
China’s Advertising Law prohibits several categories of content outright. Among the best-known restrictions is the ban on using expressions such as state-level, highest-grade, or best in advertisements. This is one reason China campaigns often avoid superlative English copy that would be routine in some other markets.
The rule matters because it is broader than many marketers expect. It does not only capture obvious slogans. It can also affect seemingly normal brand language, such as:
- Top-rated
- Number one (第一)
- Premium leader
- Unmatched results
Closely related to that is the law’s broad treatment of false or misleading advertising. Article 28 does not limit false advertising to clearly fabricated claims. It also covers inconsistencies between the ad and the real conditions of the product or service, fabricated or unverifiable research or data, and claims about effects that cannot be substantiated. That has direct implications for phrases such as “clinically proven”, “X% of users saw results”, “expert recommended”, or comparative superiority claims without a solid documentary basis.
What Categories Face Stricter Advertising Rules?
Chinese ad law becomes much stricter in regulated sectors.
Medical Treatment, Medicines, and Medical Devices
Advertisements for medical treatments, medicines, and medical devices must not contain assertions or guarantees of efficacy or safety, statements of recovery or efficacy rates, comparisons to other medicines or devices, or spokesperson recommendations and testimonials. Certain special drugs and drug-treatment-related products must not be advertised at all, and prescription drug advertising is tightly restricted. These categories are also subject to prior review requirements before publication.
Health Foods
Health food advertisements are also tightly regulated. They must not make efficacy or safety guarantees, claim disease-prevention or treatment functions, suggest that the product is necessary for good health, compare themselves with medicines or other health foods, or use spokesperson recommendations or testimonials. They must also clearly indicate that the product is not a substitute for medicine.
Education and Training
Advertisements for education and training must not make guarantee-type promises about educational advancement, passing tests, or obtaining degrees or certificates or imply assured training outcomes. They also must not imply participation by testing bodies, educational institutions, or question setters in a way that breaches the law.
Investment and Return-on-Investment Products
Advertisements for goods or services involving expected investment returns must provide reasonable risk warnings and must not promise future results, imply no risk, or suggest guaranteed earnings except where specifically permitted by state rules. This is an area where loose performance language can create immediate compliance issues.
Tobacco and Internet Tobacco Advertising
The internet advertising measures expressly prohibit internet ads for tobacco, including e-cigarettes. The Advertising Law also tightly restricts tobacco advertising more broadly.
Do Some Ads Require Prior Review Before Publication?
Yes. Certain categories require ad-review approval before publication. The Advertising Law states that advertisements for medical treatment, medicines, medical apparatuses, pesticides, veterinary medicines, and health food, along with other ads requiring review by law or administrative regulation, must be reviewed before publication. The internet repeats that rule for online ads and adds special foods for medical purposes to the listed examples.
In practical terms, categories commonly associated with prior review include:
- Medical treatment
- Medicines
- Medical devices
- Pesticides
- Veterinary medicines
- Health foods
- Special foods for medical purposes in online contexts
Even strong copy and compliant creatives are not enough if the category requires prior review, and that process has not been completed. For many advertisers, the risk is not that the campaign is obviously illegal, but that a required approval step was overlooked during launch preparation.
Advertisers must possess or provide true, lawful, and valid supporting documents, including business-license materials and other documents confirming the truthfulness of ad content. Ad agents and ad publishers are also required to check supporting documents and verify the contents of advertisements according to the law. Ads with untrue information or incomplete documents must not be designed, represented, or published.
In practice, brands should be able to produce supporting materials such as:
- company qualification documents
- industry licenses where relevant
- substantiation for advertising claims
- permissions for names, likenesses, and endorsements
- records of prior review or approval where the category requires it
What Rules Apply to Endorsements and Spokespersons?
The Advertising Law says that advertising spokesperson recommendations and testimonials must be based on facts, and spokespersons must not recommend products they have not used or services they have not received. Article 38 also states that minors under 18 cannot be used as advertising spokespersons. Endorsements and testimonials face even stricter restrictions in certain regulated categories, including medical treatment, medicines, medical devices, and health foods.
This is particularly relevant for influencer campaigns and KOL or KOC collaborations in China. The compliance question is not only whether the ad is disclosed but also whether the endorsement itself is lawful, supportable, and suitable for the category involved.
What Penalties Can Apply for Violations?
Penalties under Chinese advertising law vary by violation:
- Article 57 provides for fines of CNY 200,000 to CNY 1,000,000 for more serious prohibited-content violations. In serious cases, authorities may also cancel business licenses or revoke ad-approval documents.
- Article 58 provides for fines calculated as multiples of advertising costs for category-specific violations. Where advertising costs cannot be calculated, fines range from CNY 100,000 to 200,000, rising to CNY 200,000 to 1,000,000 in serious cases.
- Article 59 includes lower-tier fines of up to CNY 100,000.
- Article 62 and the internet measures specify fines of CNY 5,000 to 30,000 for certain one-click-close violations.
Non-compliance can lead to:
- Ad takedowns
- Fines
- Confiscation of advertising costs
- Revocation of approvals
- Business-license consequences in serious cases
What Does This Mean in Practice for Brands Advertising in China?
For most brands, the practical lesson is that compliance has to be built into campaign planning, not added at the end.
Ads need to be clearly recognisable as ads. Copy needs to avoid superlatives, implied guarantees, and weakly supported claims. Regulated sectors need earlier legal review and, in some cases, prior approval before publication. Supporting documents need to exist before campaign submission, not after a platform or regulator asks for them. Native content, creator campaigns, livestreams, and review-style content should all be treated as compliance-sensitive areas rather than informal exceptions to the rules. And where pop-up or open-screen formats are involved, the close mechanism must be real, clear, and one-click.
Here is a quick checklist:
- Label ads clearly
- Remove superlatives and weakly supported claims
- Review category-specific restrictions early
- Prepare substantiation and licensing documents in advance
- Treat native and creator content as ad-risk areas
- Check one-click-close functionality for intrusive formats
How Can AppInChina Help?
AppInChina helps overseas brands navigate Chinese advertising law before campaigns go live.
AppInChina can help by:
- Providing a free compliance assessment to identify legal and platform-policy risks
- Reviewing ad copy, creative, claims, and disclosure language for China suitability
- Checking whether your category requires additional licences, approvals, or supporting documents
- Localising campaign messaging into Simplified Chinese in a way that is both effective and legally safer
- Advising on how Chinese advertising law applies across platforms such as Douyin, WeChat, RedNote, and Baidu
For many brands, the value is not just avoiding rejection or takedown. It is making sure compliance is built into the campaign strategy from the start. Contact us to get started with your China-focused advertising campaign.