Ad Account Policies

These guidelines do not replace the need for Partners to obtain their own legal advice, and Malu is not responsible for content provided by Partners. These rules are organised into three main sections:

• Prohibited Content — material that may never run on Malu under any circumstance.
• Restricted Content — sensitive categories that require additional conditions, targeting controls, and sometimes Malu pre-approval or local certifications.
• Content Standards — general quality and compliance rules that apply to all campaigns.

Malu may revise these Ad Policies at any time. The most recent version is binding on all Partners whose content appears on Malu inventory. Failure to comply with these policies may result in the termination of your account with you forfeiting access to any Brand Assets, Collateral, and Funds held in the Account or otherwise associated with the Account.

Account activity & dormancy

1. Active Account — An Account shall be considered active if there has been at least one Transaction using the Account within the previous sixty (60) days.
2. Dormant Account — If no Transaction occurs within a consecutive period of sixty (60) days, the Account shall be considered dormant.
3. Termination for Dormancy — Upon classification as a Dormant Account, we reserve the right (in our sole discretion) to terminate the Account, suspend or close access to the Account and any associated Services or benefits.
4. Consequences of Termination — Upon termination under this clause, you will forfeit access to any Brand Assets, Collateral, and Funds held in the Account or otherwise associated with the Account.
5. Survival — The termination of your Account under this clause does not affect any rights or liabilities that accrued prior to termination, and the remaining provisions of these Terms shall survive.

Digital Services Tax (DST) Reserves

Certain jurisdictions impose a Digital Services Tax ("DST"), Regulatory Operating Fee, or equivalent surcharge on advertising served to end users in those countries. Meta passes these charges through to the advertiser in addition to gross ad spend, and the applicable rate is determined by where each ad impression is delivered — not by the location of the advertiser or of the Company. Meta maintains and updates the current list of affected jurisdictions and rates at https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1238737454289085.

Because DST is applied on delivery and audience geography can change during a campaign, the Company operates a DST Reserve against each ad account funded by You. On every top-up allocated to an ad account, a percentage of the gross funded amount is withheld into the DST Reserve to cover the expected pass-through DST liability charged by Meta. The remaining Net Ad Spend is the amount made available for campaign delivery. Both the Gross top-up amount and the Net Ad Spend amount are displayed to You in the platform.

DST Reserves are reconciled against the actual DST charged by Meta. Where the actual DST liability for a given period is lower than the amount reserved — for example, because audience jurisdictions changed during the advertising period — the difference is credited back to You either against the next top-up or, at the Company's discretion, as a same-day refund allocation to the ad account. Where the actual DST liability exceeds the reserved amount, You remain liable for the shortfall and the Company may recover it from any remaining wallet or ad-account balance, from a future top-up, or by invoice.

You acknowledge that (i) the DST reserve percentage may be adjusted by the Company without prior notice to track Meta's published rates; (ii) DST is a tax charged by Meta, not a Company fee, and no Company commission is applied to DST reserve amounts or to DST refund allocations; and (iii) all DST reserves, adjustments and refund allocations are recorded within the Service and available for Your review.

Illegal products or services

Ads may not promote any product or service that is unlawful in the country or territory where the ad is shown. This includes, for example, controlled drugs, illegal weapons or fireworks, and any other product banned under local law.

Drugs and related products

Promotion of illegal drugs or any paraphernalia intended to grow, manufacture, store, transport or consume such substances is not allowed. Paraphernalia covers equipment or materials used at any stage from planting through preparation and ingestion.

India: Advertising "magic remedy" products or services that claim supernatural power to influence fertility, contraception, menstruation, sexual performance or medical outcomes is prohibited, as is any ad suggesting that charms, spells or similar can diagnose, prevent or cure illness.

Weapons, ammunition and explosives

Content whose main purpose is to promote weapons, ammunition or explosives is not permitted. "Weapon" refers to any object designed for, or commonly used in, inflicting physical injury or damage.

Exceptionally, a legitimate retailer such as a licensed gun shop may be allowed to advertise in markets where this is legal, but only subject to strict compliance checks and prior written approval from Malu.

Adult content

Explicit adult material is not accepted on Malu. This includes pornography, depictions of sexual acts, nudity, and strongly suggestive imagery.

Prohibited content also covers sexual activity that is illegal, exploitative, non-consensual, violent or degrading (for example prostitution, rape, incest, torture with sexual elements, or illegal drug use in a sexual context). References to strip clubs, escorts, and similar services are not allowed.

Products marketed as sexual enhancers or "performance" boosters (e.g. claims around libido, size or stamina) may not be promoted.

Lingerie advertising must avoid nudity and overtly sexual posing. Such campaigns are reviewed case-by-case and may be rejected or restricted in certain jurisdictions. "Risqué" creative that trades mainly on shock or sexual provocation is always disallowed.

Misleading or false content and scams

Ads must not misrepresent material facts, omit crucial information that would change how a reasonable consumer understands the offer, or otherwise deceive users. This applies whether the misleading effect is intentional or not.

Bait-style promotions (for example, advertising one product or price but delivering another) are generally banned. Where specific jurisdictions allow such practices under narrow conditions, all applicable rules must be followed and Malu may still decline the campaign.

Ads promising to cure, prevent or reverse serious diseases or conditions where no established cure exists will not be accepted. Malu may also reject offers that carry a high risk of fraud — such as unrealistic investment returns, too-good-to-be-true financial schemes or other apparent scams.

India: Content that hides important terms, exaggerates benefits, or breaches the Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 is not allowed.

Profane, vulgar and graphic content

Profanity, blasphemous or obscene language, and strong swear words are not acceptable. Creative attempts to disguise such words with symbols or spacing (for example replacing letters with punctuation) are treated as equivalent.

Vulgar references to bodily functions, crude jokes, or demeaning representations of people's bodies are not permitted. Graphic imagery — such as visible gore, open wounds, depictions of torture, or dead bodies — is banned.

Payday and cash-advance loans

Short-term, high-interest loans that are typically repaid from a borrower's next paycheque (often called payday or cash-advance loans) may not be advertised on Malu.

Penny auctions

Bidding-fee auctions where users pay a non-refundable fee to place each bid, even if they do not win, are not allowed.

Multi-level marketing

Multi-level marketing and similar network-marketing or pyramid-style schemes may not be promoted. This includes models in which participants primarily earn commissions from recruiting new sellers rather than from legitimate retail sales.

Counterfeit documents or products

Ads for forged identity documents, licences or certificates are prohibited. The same applies to counterfeit consumer goods, pirated media, grey-market items sold without the brand's consent, or products that use confusingly similar logos or brand names.

Prohibited financial and legal services

Malu does not accept advertising that solicits investments or funds in questionable schemes, offers bail bond services, currency exchange schemes, credit-repair services, or unregulated loan products.

Promotion of cryptocurrencies or similar highly speculative instruments is not accepted under these Ad Policies. Services that claim they can erase accurate negative information from a credit report are also banned.

India: Ads for money-circulation or "prize chit" schemes and ads that solicit clients for legal or accounting practice are not allowed.

Fake news

Malu does not carry advertising for non-satirical "news" properties that routinely publish fabricated or grossly distorted stories with the intention of misleading readers, fuelling propaganda or spreading hoaxes.

Dangerous products or services

Ads may not promote recreational or psychoactive substances intended to alter mental state, regardless of whether those substances are legal in a given market. More broadly, products or services that are known — or should reasonably be known — to cause serious harm to users or others are prohibited.

Hate speech

Content that vilifies, threatens or incites hostility against people based on protected characteristics (such as ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, sexual orientation or similar) is strictly prohibited. This includes degrading slurs, calls for segregation or violence, and vandalism or symbols associated with hate.

Ads may also be rejected if their landing pages contain this type of material.

India: Any creative that insults or objectifies women through words, gestures, imagery or objects is banned.

Defamatory content

Ads must not contain or link to statements presented as facts that are false, unprivileged and damaging to a person's or organisation's reputation, particularly where there is malice or intent to harm.

Content causing public unrest

Malu will not serve ads that are reasonably likely to cause public panic, incite disorder, or encourage offences against public authorities.

India: Content that undermines national unity, sovereignty or integrity — including messaging that stirs hatred, disaffection or enmity toward the state — is not allowed.

Spyware or malware

Ads, creatives and landing pages must be free of spyware, malware or other software that tracks users secretly, installs without meaningful consent, or otherwise creates deceptive or harmful experiences.

Alcohol

Advertising for alcoholic drinks must follow all applicable laws, regulations and industry codes in each market where the campaign runs. This typically includes minimum-age requirements and restrictions on where and how ads may appear.

Campaigns in this category will usually need narrowed targeting so that impressions are served only to audiences that are reasonably expected to be above the legal drinking age.

India: Alcohol advertising is prohibited in many states and union territories. Partners are responsible for checking which local jurisdictions do not allow alcohol promotion and must not target users there.

Additional geographical restrictions and prohibitions may apply.

Tobacco products

Tobacco includes traditional cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, roll-your-own products and smokeless tobacco. Promotion of these products and accessories is generally not permitted on Malu, with limited exceptions in a small number of countries where tightly controlled advertising is lawful.

In those markets, ads must comply with all statutory health-warning and audience-age obligations.

India: Depicting smoking or tobacco use while advertising unrelated goods or services is not allowed.

Gambling

Gambling covers activities where people stake money or items of value for a chance to win a prize based on an uncertain outcome (for example, casino games, sports betting, bingo or online betting platforms).

Free-to-play games that do not involve real-money wagering may be allowed. Real-money gambling campaigns are subject to additional rules and may only run in jurisdictions where such activity is licensed and where Malu has confirmed eligibility.

India: In certain states, ads that promote or facilitate games of skill or chance are restricted or banned. Partners must ensure that any campaigns comply with state-level advertising rules.

Additional geographical restrictions and prohibitions may apply.

Dating

Dating services may advertise on Malu only if the service is legitimate and lawfully registered where the ads are displayed, and the creative respects the following limits:

• No sexually explicit or strongly suggestive text or imagery.
• No promotion of "hook-ups," casual sex, one-night stands or infidelity.
• No references to mail-order spouses or cross-border matchmaking of that nature.
• No fake chat pop-ups, "X people are looking at you" style messages, or other deceptive engagement features.

Ads must be targeted to adults who meet the legal age requirement for dating-service promotion in each market.

Dating ads are not accepted in certain countries (for example, China), and in others they must display clear "18+ only" messaging and use age-gating.

Financial services

Financial services include investment products, credit cards, loans, mortgages, wealth-management services and other regulated offerings. Campaigns must comply with applicable financial-services law and local advertising codes in every jurisdiction where they serve.

Additional Malu-specific financial-advertising standards may apply. Partners should expect to provide evidence of licences, risk disclosures and substantiation for performance claims before campaigns are accepted.

Additional geographical restrictions and prohibitions may apply.

Cannabis content

This category covers content that promotes cannabis, cannabinoids (including CBD) and hemp-derived products.

Such promotion is only considered in markets where the relevant products are legal. Where it is considered, additional rules typically apply, including age-gating, territory controls, health warnings and sometimes mandatory approval by the relevant regulator. Outside those territories, cannabis-related ads are not allowed.

Additional geographical restrictions and prohibitions may apply.

Political content

Political advertising includes content that aims to influence public policy, elections, legislation or public office-holders, or which endorses or attacks political parties, candidates or ballot measures.

Where permitted, such ads must comply fully with local election and campaign-finance rules. They may not run during legally imposed blackout or "silence" periods, and must be targeted only to users who are at or above the voting age in the relevant jurisdiction.

In some countries political ads are not accepted on Malu under any circumstances.

Additional geographical restrictions and prohibitions may apply.

Dietary and weight-loss products

Ads for slimming products, diet pills and similar offerings are heavily restricted. Among other limits:

• No "before and after" body-comparison photographs.
• No imagery deliberately focused on obesity to shame or pressure the viewer.
• No guarantees of specific weight-loss amounts or speeds.

Claims must be supported by robust human clinical evidence or accompanied by clear disclaimers where permitted by law. Some countries prohibit advertising diet or nutrition products altogether, or ban medical weight-loss procedures from being promoted to consumers.

In certain markets (such as the United States), regulators also prohibit common "too good to be true" claims — for example, promising large losses without dieting or exercise, permanent weight loss after stopping the product, or universal success for all users.

"Free" items and offers

The word "free" may only be used where the product or service is genuinely free and any conditions are clearly and prominently disclosed both in the ad and on the landing page. If material terms are buried or obscured, the ad may be rejected.

Malu will not approve campaigns that charge users for services which are normally available at no cost from an official or government source.

India: "Free trial" language must not be used when a non-refundable purchase or unavoidable paid commitment is required.

Background searches

People-search and background-check services may advertise provided they do not promote access to arrest records, criminal-history databases, or mug-shot galleries, and do not imply that users may use the service for harassment, discrimination or other unlawful purposes.

Motion pictures, video games and television

Ads for films, shows, live events and video games are generally acceptable where:

• They display the appropriate rating from the recognised classification body.
• Placement and targeting align with that rating (for example, content suitable for adults is only shown to adult audiences).
• Red-band or mature-content trailers are served only in age-appropriate contexts and behind an age gate.

Tickets for music or entertainment events may be promoted. Where an album or track carries parental-advisory style labelling, the advertising must still respect context and audience composition.

Beauty products and services

Beauty and cosmetic products can be promoted when all claims are accurate, evidence-based and compliant with local rules. Advertisers in this category must not:

• Claim to prevent, treat or cure disease.
• Suggest that cosmetic products affect the body beyond surface-level or visual effects.
• Promise permanent or "miraculous" transformation.
• Use obviously manipulated images that create unrealistic expectations.
• State or imply that non-prescription products are as effective as regulated medical treatment.

Before-and-after images must, where permitted, reflect genuine results and not be misleading. Ads should avoid reinforcing harmful stereotypes, including around skin tone, and must respect local guidance on fairness or lightening products.

Healthcare, pharmacies and medications

Campaigns for healthcare providers, pharmacies and medicines are subject to additional regulatory scrutiny. Prescription treatments, over-the-counter medicines and medical services are often regulated differently in each market and may require substantiation, approvals or restrictions before serving.

Malu may require legal clearance or proof of compliance before accepting such advertising.

India: Ads that promote human organ trading or pre-natal sex determination, or that amount to direct solicitation of patients for medical practices, are not permitted.

Additional geographical restrictions and prohibitions may apply.

Food

Most food and drink products can be promoted, subject to any local nutrition- and health-claim rules. However, baby formula, bottles, teats and certain infant-food products may be banned from advertising in some countries, and health-benefit claims may be restricted.

In specific markets, advertisers may not use endorsements or recommendations from medical professionals or institutions when marketing foods.

Psychics, tarot readings and fortune tellers

Services such as fortune-telling or psychic readings may be allowed only as light-hearted entertainment and not as serious promises of life outcomes. In a number of jurisdictions, this type of service cannot be advertised at all. Where legal, Malu may still restrict campaigns if they appear exploitative or misleading.

Religion and community

Religious or faith-based advertising is approached cautiously and often requires prior Malu review. Ads must not promote one religion as inherently superior to another, disparage other beliefs, or encourage social division or hostility.

Messaging, imagery and symbols should be respectful and accurately represent the organisation or denomination. Requests for donations or fundraising for religious causes are generally not allowed.

India: Any creative likely to inflame tensions between religious, caste or community groups or disturb public tranquility is prohibited.

Landing page

The primary purpose of the landing page must be to provide meaningful content about the advertised product or service — not simply to host more ads. The page must be live, functional and consistent with what was promised in the creative.

Landing pages should not use disruptive pop-ups or pop-unders, forced redirects, fake system messages, automatic downloads or misleading buttons. They must not automatically send users to an unrelated domain.

Landing pages must comply with these Malu Ad Policies overall and must not contain any prohibited content.

Advertising copy

Ad text should follow standard grammar and spelling. Overuse of capital letters, punctuation, emojis or symbols in an attempt to attract clicks is not permitted.

Ads must clearly identify the product, service or brand they promote and must not masquerade as neutral editorial or system messages. Plagiarised copy or unlicensed use of third-party trademarks or copyrighted material is not allowed.

Images

Creatives must use clear, high-quality imagery that accurately reflects the advertised offer. Pixelated, distorted or excessively cropped images that obscure the true nature of the content may be rejected.

Close-ups of flesh or body parts, or similarly voyeuristic crops of food or other products, are generally prohibited. "Before and after" visual comparisons are restricted or banned in many categories.

Images must not trick users into clicking by imitating operating-system warnings, dialogue boxes, media player controls, or other interface elements that a reasonable user would expect to be functional.

The commercial use of national flags, emblems or symbols is allowed only where local law permits it, and any depiction that appears to desecrate or show contempt for such symbols is not allowed.

Video

Video and audio must be of sufficient quality that viewers can clearly understand the content. Manipulative practices such as fake "Play" buttons, deceptive system alerts or irrelevant sensational tactics to obtain clicks are not acceptable.

Endorsements and testimonials

When ads use testimonials, endorsements or influencer content, it must be clear that the material is advertising and that any featured individuals have genuinely provided the statements or given permission for their likeness to be used.

India: Influencer campaigns must comply with the Advertising Standards Council of India's self-regulatory code. Disclosures that clearly label the material as advertising must be prominent and easy for an average consumer to understand.

Environment & sustainability

Some markets have introduced laws or established independent regulatory bodies to oversee environmental claims in advertising. The examples below highlight where additional review or legal guidance may apply. Partners are responsible for ensuring full compliance with local rules when referring to environmental performance, sustainability, or carbon-related messaging.

France

In France the self-regulation authority operated by the industry is the Autorité de régulation professionnelle de la publicité (ARPP). The ARPP can be consulted to validate that a specific Ad complies with deontological rules. This is something that is only mandatory for TV and VoD ads.

In addition, several laws apply to advertising in France and more specifically to environmental claims.

Some laws are dedicated to specific sectors: Law 2020-105 of 10 February 2020, known as the "AGEC" law, expressly prohibited all-encompassing claims such as "biodegradable" or "environmentally friendly". Automotive ads need to showcase a standardised carbon emissions label since December 2021.

Starting from the 1st of January 2023, all sectors need to comply with rules regarding carbon offsetting and carbon neutrality claims in their messaging. These rules require partners to be able to justify these claims. Concretely it means that ads can no longer say a product, a service or even a company is carbon neutral as they wouldn't be able to justify it. Such neutrality claims should be avoided in the French market (and beyond for ethical reasons).

United Kingdom

In the UK the self-regulation body is the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA applies the Advertising Codes, which are written by the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP and BCAP), to advertising across all different types of media.

For pre-publication advice on specific non-broadcast advertisements, consult the CAP Copy Advice team via their online request form. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also developed a Green Claims Code, which sets out 6 key points to check your environmental claims are genuinely green.

Belgium

In Belgium the Association of Communication Companies (ACC) is the self-regulatory body. They published a specific code for environmental claims and initiated the "Towards Zero Greenwashing" initiative detailing principles to apply and a guide.

The Jury for Ethical Practices in advertising (JEP) can be consulted before a campaign is launched to proof an ad.

United States

The FTC published in 2012 a Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims ("Green Guides"). These guides are planned to evolve in the short term.