Influencer marketing in the UAE: the advertiser permit and what brands must check

Influencer marketing in the UAE now comes with a licence check. Since the UAE Media Council introduced its advertiser permit, anyone promoting a brand on social media from inside the country needs one, and brands are expected to work only with creators who have it. For a business, that adds one step to every campaign. It also makes it easier to tell professional creators from everyone else.

The short answer: only work with creators who show a valid advertiser permit number, keep copies of their permit and trade licence, put the rules in your contract, and judge campaigns on sales and enquiries rather than likes.

What the advertiser permit is

The advertiser permit is issued by the UAE Media Council. The essentials, as reported when it launched and since:

• Who needs it: anyone displaying promotional content on their social media channels, whether the content is paid for or not. It applies to citizens, residents and visitors who create advertising content from within the UAE.
• When: Gulf News reports that it has been mandatory since 1 February 2026.
• Cost: free for the first three years.
• Two types: a standard permit, and a visitor permit for creators from abroad, arranged through a licensed advertising or talent management agency and valid for three months.
• Eligibility: applicants must be at least 18 (with exceptions approved by the Council), and citizens and residents need a valid trade licence for electronic media.
• Exemptions: promoting your own products or services, or those of a company you own, through your personal account; and under-18s creating educational, cultural, sports or awareness content.

What permit holders must do

According to the same reports, permit holders must:

• Display their permit number clearly on their social media accounts.
• Advertise only through accounts registered with the Council, and not let anyone else advertise through them.
• Get prior approval for adverts that need it under other laws, before publishing.
• Follow the Media Council’s content standards.

What brands must check

The Council has called on companies to engage only with people it has licensed, and Gulf News reports that organisations must verify that any advertiser they work with holds a valid permit. In practice:

1. Ask for the permit number and trade licence before you agree anything, and check that the number matches the one shown on the creator’s profile.
2. For creators visiting from abroad, work through a licensed agency that can arrange the visitor permit.
3. Keep copies of the permit, the licence and the approved content with your campaign records.
4. Check whether your product needs approval from another authority before it can be advertised, and leave time for it.
5. Put it in the contract: a valid permit for the whole campaign, the content standards, approval before posting, and what happens if a permit lapses.

Financial products have extra rules on top of these; our guide to fintech marketing in DIFC covers what finfluencers can and can’t do.

The penalties are real

Gulf News reports that under Cabinet Resolution No. 42 of 2025:

Violation	Fine reported
Operating without a licence	AED 10,000 for a first offence, AED 40,000 for a repeat
Publishing false or misleading information	AED 5,000 to AED 10,000
Breaching the content standards	AED 5,000 to AED 1,000,000, depending on severity

Permits can also be suspended or cancelled. A creator who loses their permit mid-campaign leaves the brand with content it can’t use, which is one more reason to check before you sign.

How to choose creators who actually sell

A permit tells you a creator is allowed to advertise. It doesn’t tell you whether they’ll sell anything for you. Look for:

• An audience that matches your customers: location (mostly UAE, if you sell in the UAE), language and age. Ask for screenshots of their audience insights.
• Engagement that looks real: comments that discuss the content, not just emojis, and views in line with follower numbers.
• Past brand work: what they made, and whether those brands came back for more.
• Fit with your brand: would your customers believe this person uses your product?

Several smaller creators with a close, local following can do more for a café, clinic or boutique than one big name, and they let you test what works before you scale.

Run it like a campaign, not a favour

• Brief clearly: the one message, the offer, what must be said and shown, and what mustn’t.
• Give each creator a trackable link or code, so you can count visits, enquiries and sales.
• Agree usage rights up front if you want to reuse the content in your own ads or on your website.
• Plan follow-up: a landing page or a WhatsApp chat ready for the people the creator sends. Our WhatsApp marketing guide covers replies and consent.
• Disclose the partnership using the platform’s branded content tools, so followers know it’s an ad.

What to measure

• Sales or enquiries per creator, from their link or code.
• Cost per customer, including fees and free products, compared with your other channels. Our marketing budget guide shows how to set the target.
• Content you can reuse, and how it performs in your own ads.
• Repeat creators: the best partnerships usually get better the second and third time.

Where our experience comes from

We work on both sides of social media. For comedian Aditi Mittal, we ran ads that sold out every show and grew her following from about 90K to 125K. For brands, our PR and influencer marketing work starts with the checks above and ends with numbers you can judge it on.

The short version

Every creator who promotes your brand from the UAE needs a Media Council advertiser permit. Check the number and the trade licence before you sign, keep records, put the rules in the contract, and judge each partnership on sales, not likes. If you’d like help planning a campaign, book a free call.