The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) says it will commence the enforcement of sanctions on unapproved adverts on secondary digital media platforms effective Wednesday, March 1.
The Director-General of ARCON, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo, said this while delivering an address at an interactive session with key stakeholders in the digital media space on Tuesday in Lagos.
The theme of the session was: “Business of Advertising in the Digital Space; The Regulatory Aspect.”
Fadolapo said the interactive session became necessary to deepen the knowledge of the laws governing advertising in the country to drive inclusivity.
“Any commercial or advertisement done on the secondary digital media space that is not vetted before exposure by ARCON will be sanctioned by the provisions of the law,” he said.
Fadolapo said that content producers, bloggers, and skit makers need to choose between eight hours, 16 hours and 10 working days to submit their content to ARCON for vetting and approval before exposure to the general public.
He said that the enforcement became imperative due to the dangers, health risks, falsehood and nudity portrayed by some of the content uploaded on the secondary digital media space.
Fadolapo emphasised that ARCON was not out to regulate social media noting that when a media platform moves from its entertainment value to the realm of advertisement, it has entered the jurisdiction of ARCON for regulation.
“ARCON is not regulating social media/ digital media space.
“We are only regulating advertising, and marketing communications within this space,” he said.
Fadolapo said that ARCON would not tolerate adverts on digital media platforms where models make use of military, police, paramilitary and NYSC uniforms.
He added that only obituaries and vacancies on digital platforms were exempted from the rule.
Fadolapo noted that ARCON was in dialogue with key stakeholders in the primary and secondary digital space to deepen the understanding of the new advertising law of 2022 and its ramifications.
Also speaking, Mr Charles Odenigbo, a lawyer, reeled out the provisions of the law as it affects advertising and marketing communications.
Odenigbo said that ignorance of the law was not an excuse.
He advised bloggers, skit makers and every player on the digital media space to engage the services of advertising professionals and lawyers to avoid running fowl of the law.
