Why this page exists
An ad account that gets banned in its second week doesn’t sell anything. Campaigns that follow the rules stay live, get cheaper over time and can be scaled. That’s the only reason we care this much.
- Longer-living accountsFewer bans and rejected ads mean less time lost and more stable delivery.
- Lower costs over timeAd platforms tend to review and deliver more smoothly for advertisers with a clean history.
- Safer for your brandYour product isn’t tied to claims you’d have to explain to a regulator.
- More markets openA clean funnel can be copied into the next country without starting over.
Allowed or not allowed?
Six lines we keep finding in briefs. Guess which ones can run in an EU ad. Each answer comes with the rule behind it.
Food supplement ad“Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system.”
Knee support supplement ad“Gets rid of joint pain in 7 days.”
Product page“Only 3 left! Offer ends in 09:59” on a timer that restarts every visit.
Top of an advertorial“Advertisement · sponsored content” in the first line of the page.
Supplement banner“Recommended by doctors.”
Landing page“4.9★ from 12,000 happy customers” with no real reviews behind it.
Our rules for every ad and page
- Advertising is labelledAdvertorials and sponsored pages say so at the top and near the buy buttons.
- Real product, real sellerWe show the actual product and send users to the seller’s own product page, not to a hidden checkout.
- No fake social proofNo invented reviews, testimonials, star ratings, “people watching now” counters or sales figures.
- No false urgencyNo countdown timers or “only 3 left” messages unless they are true and come from the seller.
- Prices shown honestlyA price on our page is marked with the date it was checked and links to the seller’s current price.
- Health claims from the EU list onlyFor foods and supplements we use only authorised wording. No disease prevention, treatment or cure.
- Medicines are not our productWe don’t advertise prescription medicines and don’t present products as medicines.
- Stories marked as illustrativeWhen a page describes a typical situation, it says so. We don’t invent named customers.
Before launch, every creative is checked for
- Claims against the product label and the EU register
- Advertising disclosure
- Price and seller information
- Images that show the real product
- The platform’s policy for that category
- Privacy notice on any page that collects data
What we never run
No payout changes this list.
- Prescription medicinesor products presented as medicines
- Disease cure claimsfor any product, food or device
- Gambling and betting
- Adult content
- Weapons
- Financial schemescrypto get-rich offers, binary options, fake investments
- Fake celebrity endorsementsor news sites made to look like real media brands
- Phishing or data harvestingpages built to collect data under false pretences
The rules behind ours
The main EU laws and platform policies our checks are based on. Links go to the official texts.
| Law or policy | What it means for our ads |
|---|---|
| Directive 2005/29/EC (Unfair Commercial Practices Directive) | Bans misleading and aggressive commercial practices. Annex I point 11 bans editorial content paid for by a trader unless that is made clear. This is why our advertorials carry an advertising label. |
| Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus Directive) | Updated EU consumer law. Among other things it bans fake consumer reviews and presenting reviews as genuine without checking them. |
| Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 (nutrition and health claims) | Sets the rules for nutrition and health claims on foods, including food supplements. Only authorised claims may be used. |
| Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 (list of permitted health claims) | The EU list of authorised health claims, with the conditions under which each one may be used. |
| Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (food information to consumers) | Article 7 forbids food information that attributes to food the property of preventing, treating or curing a human disease. |
| Directive 2011/83/EU (Consumer Rights Directive) | Information a consumer must receive before buying online. We send users to the seller’s own page, where the seller provides it. |
| Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act) | Rules for online platforms, including transparency about who an ad is from and why a user sees it. |
| Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) | How personal data is processed, including data from our own contact forms. |
| Directive 2002/58/EC (ePrivacy Directive) | Consent rules for cookies and similar technologies on websites. |
| Meta Advertising Standards | Meta’s own rules for ads on Facebook and Instagram. Every platform we use has its own policy, and we follow it. |
This page explains how we work. It is not legal advice. National rules can be stricter than EU rules, and we check them for each market.
Seen an ad of ours that looks wrong?
Tell us where you saw it and what is wrong. We look at every report and take the ad down while we check it, if the problem looks real.
You can also report ads directly to the platform where you saw them, or to the consumer protection authority in your country.
