If you schedule or automate posts, add the permit to the checks you run before anything is queued. And if you want to know how your business shows up beyond social media, get a free visibility check: we ask Google and seven AI engines what your customers ask, show you who is named, and list the three fixes we would make first.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Every rule here comes from the regulator's own service pages or from a dated news or law-firm source, read on 18 October 2026, and each is listed at the end. Where the published sources are silent, we say so rather than guess.
Who issues the permit now
The Advertiser Permit was launched by the UAE Media Council in July 2025. From 1 January 2026, Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 replaced the Media Council, the National Media Office and the Emirates News Agency with a single body, the National Media Authority (NMA). The permit is now listed among the NMA's e-services, and the old Media Council address redirects to the NMA's site. News coverage and older guides still say "Media Council"; it is the same permit.
The rules behind it come from Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023 regulating media, in force since 1 December 2023, and its executive regulations and penalty resolutions.
Who needs it, case by case
The NMA describes the permit as allowing individuals to publish advertising and media content through their social media accounts, websites or other digital platforms, whether they are paid or not. The exemption reported by Gulf News and Fragomen covers people promoting their own products or services, or a company they own, through their personal accounts.
| Who is posting | Permit needed? | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Owner, on a personal account, about their own business | No | Own-business exemption (Gulf News, Fragomen) |
| Influencer or creator you pay or gift products to | Yes | Paid and unpaid advertising both covered (NMA) |
| Freelancer posting for several brands | Yes | Promotes third parties' products |
| Visiting creator from abroad | Yes, the visitor permit, through a licensed UAE advertising agency | NMA visitor permit page |
| Employee posting about the employer on a personal account | Not settled in the sources we read | Ask the NMA |
| The company's own brand account | Not settled in the sources we read | The permit is issued to individuals; ask the NMA |
| Agency staff posting on a client's brand account | Not settled in the sources we read | Ask the NMA and check your agency's own licence |
Three of those rows are open on purpose. The sources we read describe a permit for individuals and an exemption for personal accounts, and none of them defines how a company's own account, or a staff member posting on the company's behalf, is treated. If your marketing depends on staff or agency accounts, put the question to the NMA in writing before you rely on an answer from a blog.
What the permit asks for
For residents and citizens, the NMA lists these requirements and conditions on its service page:
- UAE digital ID (UAE Pass), passport and personal photo
- a commercial licence; Gulf News describes this as a trade licence to practise electronic media from the relevant authority
- good conduct, with no conviction for a felony or a dishonesty offence unless legally rehabilitated
- advertising content that meets the media content standards
- completion of the authority's training programme on the relevant laws and controls
- no previously cancelled permit and no money owed to the authority
The fee is nothing for the first three years and AED 1,000 after that, and the NMA states a delivery time of three working days. Gulf News and Fragomen report that the resident permit is valid for one year and renewable, and that applicants must be at least 18, with exceptions at the authority's discretion.
For visitors, the NMA's page says the application goes through a licensed UAE advertising agency, the applicant must be at least 18, and the permit lasts three months, extendable to a total of six. The fee is AED 500.
Dates and fines
Coverage of the permit gave 31 January 2026 as the final registration deadline, after an extension, with enforcement from 1 February 2026, according to Khaleej Times and Time Out Dubai.
The fines most often cited come from the media law's penalty schedule. Gulf News, updated in January 2026, lists AED 10,000 for operating without a licence and AED 40,000 for a repeat, AED 10,000 for publishing on an expired licence, and up to AED 1 million for breaching the media content standards. Law-firm summaries give different figures for failing to disclose advertising, so we do not quote one. We could not open the penalty resolution itself, so treat these as reported figures and check the current schedule before quoting them to anyone.
None of the sources we read sets out a separate penalty for a business that hires a creator without a permit. That is not the same as no risk: the content is still your advertising, and the content standards still apply to it.
Finance and crypto have their own rules too
If your posts promote financial products or virtual assets, the Advertiser Permit is not the only licence in play. Since May 2025 the capital markets regulator, then the SCA and now the Capital Market Authority, has licensed people who publish content on regulated financial products under Resolution No. 10 of 2025, according to Pinsent Masons. Virtual asset marketing in Dubai falls under VARA's own marketing regulations. A creator may need both licences.
What to check before scheduled posts go out
Scheduling and automation make it easy to publish a month of posts in one sitting, which also makes it easy to publish a month of non-compliant ones. We set out how we run scheduled, approved posting; these are the permit checks we would add to any setup, ours or yours.
- Know who each account belongs to. For every account that publishes your advertising, write down whose it is: the owner's personal account, the company's brand account, an employee, an agency or a creator. The permit question differs for each.
- Ask for the permit number before a creator posts. Keep it with the brief and check its expiry date against the posting dates. A resident permit lasts a year; a visitor's lasts three months.
- Label advertising as advertising. Al Safar & Partners' summary of the media rules lists disclosure of advertising, such as an #ad label, among the obligations. Agree the label with the creator and check it is in the caption before the post is approved.
- Run the caption past the content standards. Prices, offers, health or financial claims and anything touching religion or national symbols are where the large fines sit. A person, not the scheduler, approves those posts.
- Re-check after a change of staff or agency. A new social media manager or a new agency can change who is posting, and with it whether a permit is needed.
- Keep the record. Who approved the post, which account published it and which permit covered it. If the authority asks, the scheduler's log is your evidence.
Our guide to automating social media posting with AI covers the approval and publishing steps these checks slot into, and our comparison of scheduling tools for agencies covers the tools that keep an approval record.
Sources
- National Media Authority: Permit for an individual to provide advertising or media content on social media and other digital platforms: requirements, conditions, fee, delivery time (read 18 October 2026)
- National Media Authority: Permit for visiting individuals: agency route, age, duration, fee (read 18 October 2026)
- Lexis Middle East: National Media Authority established, December 2025: Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2025 (web search, 18 October 2026)
- Gulf News: Advertiser Permit UAE, who needs it and how to apply: exemption, trade licence, validity, launch in July 2025 (web search, 18 October 2026)
- Fragomen: New Advertiser Permit required for some social media promotional content, 18 August 2025 (read 18 October 2026)
- Khaleej Times: Advertiser Permit deadline, updated 1 February 2026 (read 18 October 2026), and Time Out Dubai on the 31 January deadline (web search, 18 October 2026)
- Gulf News: What fines influencers and content creators face, updated 24 January 2026 (read 18 October 2026)
- Al Safar & Partners: UAE media regulation decisions come into effect, 31 July 2025: disclosure fines and labelling (read 18 October 2026)
- Trowers & Hamlins: Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023, in force 1 December 2023 (web search, 18 October 2026)
- Pinsent Masons: UAE licensing regime for finfluencers: Resolution No. 10 of 2025, in effect from 21 May 2025 (read 18 October 2026)
Questions people ask
Does my company's Instagram account need an Advertiser Permit?
The sources we read do not settle it. The NMA issues the permit to individuals, and the reported exemption covers owners promoting their own business on personal accounts. How a company's own brand account is treated is not stated in what we read, so ask the NMA before you assume either way.
Do I need a permit if I don't pay the influencer?
The creator does. The NMA's description covers advertising content published for compensation or free of charge, so gifted products and unpaid collaborations count, and the creator needs a permit for them.
How much does the Advertiser Permit cost?
For UAE residents and citizens, the NMA lists it as free for the first three years and AED 1,000 after that. The visitor permit, applied for through a licensed advertising agency, costs AED 500.
How does your business show up beyond social media?
The free visibility check asks Google and seven AI engines the questions your customers ask, shows you which businesses are named, and lists the three fixes we would make first.
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