China tightens the rules for internet ads, bans unapproved medical ads

China’s internet has a problem with ads, especially medical ads. This has been public knowledge for quite some time now, and it came to the forefront of the public consciousness again earlier this year when a young college student died after having wasted money on a useless medical treatment he found via an advertisement in Baidu’s search results.

Much has been said about what companies – and Baidu in particular – need to do to reign in sketchy online medical ads. But last Friday, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) issued new rules for internet advertising that will see online ads, especially medical ads, regulated at a higher level.

The new rules, which will take effect on September 1, affect all online advertising (not just search ads) and include provisions like:

• Ads for medical treatments, drugs, foods with medical benefits, medical equipment, etc. must pass through a censorship mechanism for inspection before they can be legally posted.
• Internet advertisements must be recognizable as ads, with a clear marking that says “advertisement.” Paid search results also must be clearly distinguished from real search results.
• Ads for tobacco products and prescription medications are banned.
• Advertisers are [legally] responsible for the truthfulness of their ads.
• Advertising intermediaries, including platforms and their employees, are responsible for deleting or blocking any ads they know or should have known violate the law.

That all sounds pretty good, and the public response has been pretty positive. “This is as it should be,” wrote one commenter on Sina Tech. But as is typically of these sorts of government missives, enforcement details are scarce, so it’s hard to know how things will actually shake out.

If the new rules are strictly enforced, some of China’s net users think it could mean trouble for Baidu. Medical ads have historically been a significant revenue source for the company. Some commenters have also said that if the rules for demarcating real and fake search results are clearly enforced, Baidu will be in trouble as it will be revealed that most of the search engine’s top results are paid. (Note: Baidu already marks paid search results, but thanks to the company’s history of problems in this vein, it’s not enjoying a lot of consumer trust at the moment).