Last updated Mar 10, 2026

At SmartNews, we are committed to maintaining a fair, transparent, and user-friendly advertising environment. We welcome a broad range of compelling and effective ads across our app and other platforms, and we rely on our advertising partners to align with this approach. By working together, we can ensure that the advertising experience remains engaging, respectful, and valuable for our users.

This policy outlines our guidelines and restrictions to ensure high standards of quality, integrity, and user experience on our apps and platforms. Please note that this policy is not exhaustive and may be updated from time to time at SmartNews’s sole business discretion as we continue to evolve our platforms and partnerships.

To uphold our standards, SmartNews prohibits the following types of advertisements.

Graphic Content

• blood, graphic injuries, exposed innards, or dead creatures, whether real or hyper-realistic
• graphic depictions of real-life violence, medical or dental imagery
• promoting, normalizing, inciting, or facilitating violence
• sexual assault content, whether real or simulated

Overtly revolting content

• depicting human or animal waste, including other bodily fluids
• portraying extreme filth or other gross material (e.g., infestation, contamination)
• hyper-realistic, overtly revolting content

Anxiety-inducing health ads

• depicting damage or trauma in any part of the body
• portraying any expressions showing extreme or excessive distress
• emphasizing crude illustrations to highlight medical issues
• making high-risk behavior or forms of self-harm seem acceptable or appealing (e.g. disordered eating, binge drinking, juice-only diet)
• fear-based tactics such as alarmist framing of health issues or exploiting phobias (e.g.  promoting informational data about serious life-threatening diseases such as ‘signs that you may have cervical cancer’, ‘symptoms of heart failure’ and other)

Body shaming

• body shaming or appearance shaming that disparages individuals failing to meet idealized beauty standards

Adult content

• nudity or sexually provocative imagery
• sexually explicit language or sexual innuendos
• sexual pleasure products or procedures for cosmetic purposes or to explore and stimulate sexual desires

Obscenity

• includes profanity or framing that is inappropriate in a social context

Misleading and deceptive practices

• making unrealistic or unsubstantiated claims about the effectiveness of an item/service/method being advertised
• recommending household items as treatments for curing health conditions
• misrepresenting one’s identity, associations, or endorsements
• manipulated content that may include altered visuals or audio, fabricated sources of authority, or other such factual distortions
• brand or product is confusingly similar to an existing genuine one, to the degree that it is likely to cause consumer misunderstanding
• lack of a business name, website, physical address, and other contact information about the company
• suspicious behavior, such as promising easy money with little to no effort, marketing too-good-to-be-true deals, or other behavior that misleads the consumers (i.e. “Get Rich Quick” schemes, items that are typically expensive or high-value at heavily discounted prices)
• broken, abandoned, inaccessible, or dormant domain page
• ads disguised as news content causing confusion among users
• promoting remedies or products that are known to be inherently harmful to body/mind, misleading consumers
• security risks, such as phishing, malware, or other
• scams, spam, product recalls, safety alerts, pricing transparency matters, unresponsive post-purchase support, or order fulfillment issues
• normalizing or glorifying dishonest, unethical, or other exploitative behavior 

Discriminatory

• any hate speech, depictions or imagery, including those based on protected group status

Prohibited goods, activities, and services

• controlled substances, drug paraphernalia, including cannabis and dispensaries (despite legality in some US states)
• tobacco products, including vaporizers
• offering, or facilitating the sale of cryptocurrency products or services is not allowed
• weapons, ammunition, and related-items 
• peer-to-peer small-scale donation campaigns for charitable or personal causes
• extreme body modification (e.g., plastic surgery)
• products, services, or activities to enable illegal or prohibited activities
• products that are in direct competition with SmartNews (i.e. other news aggregators)
• political ads and/or ads that mimic the likeness of known political figures or organizations that may confuse users

Editorial Standards

• gibberish, typos, grammatical or formatting errors, and other such aspects that may affect user understanding
• blurry/distorted visuals, non-clickable buttons, or any sickness-triggering visuals such as flashing lights, high-contrast screen inversions, or rapidly changing images

We examine the landing page and website for its authenticity, relevancy, and user experience. We review advertising for restricted product categories — including dating services, hemp-derived topical CBD products, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, political ads, fantasy sports and online gambling — on a case-by-case basis to ensure they meet our standards, comply with applicable laws, and do not otherwise negatively impact our users’ experience. Ads for sensitive product categories such as dating services, hemp-derived CBD products, online gambling, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, fantasy sports will be reviewed and approved individually provided they adhere to our outlined policies. In addition to this, we mandate our advertisers to complete a self-declaration form and submit all the required certifications to be successfully onboarded on our platform. We reserve the right to remove or reject any ad at any time if it is deemed unsuitable.

Our Pilot Programs Policies for Sensitive Product Categories

Dating services

We do not allow dating services that:

• arrange for singles to connect with potential partners from different countries with the primary purpose of selecting a spouse or partner (i.e. international matchmaking)
• facilitate companionship or intimacy in exchange for financial compensation or other material benefit
• focus on sexual themes
• provide affair dating or other non-monogamous dating services
• are built to find or match with individuals with high-risk behaviors or traits
• cater to dating preferences based on appearance, protected characteristics, or sensitive personal background
• are built for dating fictitious human characters/profiles without clear disclosures
• ads may be subject to additional requirements at SmartNews’s sole discretion 

Requirements:

• must display an 18+ disclaimer in its creative and an age confirmation pop-up on its landing page

Hemp-derived CBD products

We do not allow

• ingestibles, subliminals, inhalants and other non-topical products containing CBD 
• synthetically derived CBD
• making medicinal or therapeutic claims in relation to topical CBD products 
• agencies and affiliates promoting CBD products 
• raw forms of CBD or THC products 
• topical hemp-derived CBD products meant for pregnant women or minors 
• demonstrating the use of CBD products 
• products with any amount of THC 
• ads may be subject to additional requirements at SmartNews’s sole discretion

Requirements:

• 21+ age disclaimer
• topical CBD products only if they are hemp derived
• LegitScript, U.S. Hemp Authority, NSF CBD, or Hemp Product Certification or BSCG Certification
• Certificate of Analysis (CoA) or lab reports 

[Please note that any product containing THC, even if derived from hemp, is prohibited.]

Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals

We do not allow:

• unauthorized general marketers, unauthorized affiliate sites, or unlicensed sellers promoting prescription or OTC drugs.
• advertisers that have not obtained mandatory approvals to use prescription drug terms in ads, keywords, or landing pages.
• implying or stating that a product/alternative is more effective than or as effective as a prescription drug or controlled substance
• making medicinal claims for products unapproved by the FDA (i.e., language falls under the category of diagnosing, treating, mitigating, or preventing a disease)
• formulation of product does not contain any ingredients, or additives prohibited by the FDA 
• demonstrating product ingestion 
• promoting unapproved use or irresponsible use of medication or supplement (e.g., solution to life’s problems, marketing it as a healthy product or stress-buster, overconsumption, recreational use)
• steroids, hormone boosters, and opioid painkillers 
• over-the-counter drugs and test kits unapproved by the FDA
• products that have been subject to any government or regulatory action or warning 
• dramatized, unsubstantiated claims for pharmaceuticals or general wellness support products 
• promotion of speculative and/or experimental medical treatments
• promoting an unapproved product with a name that is identical to or confusingly similar to an existing drug 
• products or procedures promoted to treat sexual health conditions (e.g., sex drive pills, male enhancement supplements, ED tablets) 
• ads may be subject to additional requirements at SmartNews’s sole discretion. 

Requirements:

• ads for prescription drugs should provide appropriate disclosures, labeling and must present a  “fair balance” of risks and benefits (i.e., FDA approved use, side effects, benefits, risks, counterindications, ‘use as prescribed only’ disclaimer) as required by the law.
• Prescription and OTC medication: FDA approval
• Pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers: LegitScript Healthcare Merchant Certification Program  or National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP)
• Telehealth: LegitScript
• Medical devices: FDA approval
• Dietary and herbal supplements: Third-party certifications such as NSF, U.S. Pharmacopeia, Informed Choice or Informed Sport, ConsumerLabs 
• Hemp-derived dietary supplements without any THC/CBD: Certifications such as U.S. Hemp Authority, NSF; and Certificate of Analysis (CoA) or lab reports showing that THC/CBD content is non-detectable
• Health insurance: G2RS Certification
• Addiction services: LegitScript Certification

Online gambling

We do not allow:

• offshore gambling promotions 
• ads facilitating engagement in gambling activities (e.g., links to place bets, deposits, vouchers/bonuses, direct links to gambling services they own)
• ads describing gambling as “free”, “cost free”, “free of risk”, “income source”, or use of any other language or imagery that glorifies or glamorizes gambling 
• including or referencing alcohol, tobacco, or other prohibited products
• promoting winning as a definite outcome of playing
• featuring minors, using celebrities or influencers to appeal to minors, or otherwise create appeal for gambling products or services
• ads may be subject to additional requirements at SmartNews’s sole discretion. 

Requirements:

• ads by licensed casino affiliate networks must solely provide information about, or comparison of, other licensed gambling services 
• the gambling affiliate network must be licensed in every state where the ad will run
• 21+ age disclaimer must appear clearly in the ad
• ads should be targeted only to approved states; zip code–level targeting is not permitted
• ads must include a gambling-problem hotline number (e.g., 1-800-GAMBLER or state-specific hotline) 
• ads should clearly display responsible gambling messaging (e.g., “Play Responsibly”)

Fantasy sports

We do not allow:

• agencies/affiliates
• ads that do not exclusively promote traditional paid fantasy sports (i.e., salary cap draft style peer-to-peer contests) or other forms of gambling-related activities (e.g. no sports betting, casino games, DFS 2.0 or other)
• ads that include or reference alcohol, tobacco, or other prohibited products
• ads that promote winning as a definite outcome of playing
• ads that feature minors, use celebrities or influencers appealing to minors, or otherwise create appeal for such products 
• ads that imply affiliations with schools or universities
• ads may be subject to additional requirements at SmartNews’s sole discretion

[Please note that entirely free-to-play (F2P) models and fantasy sports where there is no opportunity to win any item of value are allowed]

Requirements:

• DFS operator must be licensed
• advertisers in states without a specific DFS license requirement must hold a valid license from at least one other U.S. state that does enforce licensing
• 21+ age disclaimer must appear clearly in the ad
• ads must include a gambling-problem hotline number (e.g., 1-800-GAMBLER or state-specific hotline)
• ads should clearly display responsible gambling messaging (e.g., “Play Responsibly”)