[Draft 3] - Advertising Payment Disclosures

[Simone]

The World Assembly (WA),

Believing that the freedom of expression ought not to include the right to express deceptive claims in advertising material or fail to disclose payment for commercial speech;

Desiring unified rules against deceptive and exploitative advertising practices given the vast trading of media content across WA states;

The WA hereby enacts as follows:

1. Definitions.
   1. “Advertising material” means any promotion for or on behalf of a payee. This specifically includes negative advertising such as those to disparage a competitor’s product.
   2. “Content” means any printed, electronic, audio and visual media produced or transmitted in a WA state.
   3. “Outlet” means anyone who operates a service whose main purpose is to provide such content to a wide audience, such as radio stations, social media, or streaming services.
   4. “Payee” means anyone directly or indirectly paying for advertising material, including the payee itself (and its associates), and any third party acting on behalf of the payee.
   5. “Producer” means any producer of content.
2. Claims made in content.
   1. Claims made in advertising material must not be deceptive or false; must be substantiated with evidence demandable by the public; and must not omit or distort information necessary for an average consumer to make an informed purchasing decision.
   2. Whenever content is paid for, or has advertising material embedded, in kind or in cash, in which the payer exercises control over such content, the payee must prominently disclose (“disclosure”) such payment, the identity of the payee if applicable, and clearly notify the content consumer as to what specific content was paid for.
   3. The producer of any content has frontline responsibility to ensure the appropriate disclosures are made.
3. Responsibilities of outlet.
   1. An outlet is required to have reasonable internal controls in place to ensure that all content on their outlet comply with the provisions of this resolution, regardless of whether such content is produced under the jurisdiction of a WA state.
   2. All outlets have a duty of care to ensure that sponsored content are clearly distinguishable from editorial content, where appropriate.
4. Clarifications.
   1. This resolution does not apply to political advertising or other forms of protected speech, subject to extant resolutions.
   2. Jurisdiction for enforcement of this resolution shall fall on the WA state where the content is produced. If the content is imported from a non-WA state the WA state where the outlet is located has jurisdiction.

 

[Simone]

This is the post-IA edit draft.