Prohibited categories of goods, services, online resources and methods of advertising
Advertising of certain products and services is not allowed under the laws of the placement country or Yandex advertising policy. An attempt to circumvent the ad placement prohibitions and restrictions is recognized unfair method of placement and entails rejection of the ads and locking of the advertiser account without explanation.
- Prohibited categories of goods and services
- Prohibited online resources
- Unfair methods of ad placement
Prohibited categories of goods and services
Explosive devices and materials (besides pyrotechnic products).
Remote sale of goods that are forbidden to be sold remotely.
Nitrous oxide.
Casinos, slot machine halls, gambling, including games where bets are placed or winnings are paid out in non-monetary form (such as online games where the winner receives a product).
Copies of original items (for example, replicas of famous watch brands).
Materials that were declared extremist.
Medical services aimed at terminating pregnancy.
Online medical advice with online diagnosis.
Modified water meters, electricity meters, gas meters, tweaking a meter, and magnets for a meter.
Amanita and microdosing of mushrooms.
Narcotic and psychotropic substances as well as their precursors.
Weapons. No types of weapons are permitted in advertising, including pneumatic, hunting, antique, gas-operated, and souvenir weaponry.
Political ads.
Content related to election campaigning, sites that advertise candidates or political figures and their lobbyists. We also can't accept ads for political opinion polls related to campaigns or referendums, or ads for election result forecasts.
Sale of promo codes granting an advertiser a discount on Yandex services to place ads in Yandex.Direct.
Dating ads using language related to sex dating, dating for intimacy, one night stand dating, sex chats, and so on.
Advertising aimed at drawing attention to services, programs or mobile apps for ad blocking or replacement of advertising with other content or ads (excluding instances when the ad blocker is an extension of the main object being advertised).
Advertising that is associated with tragic events, if such ads are aimed at drawing attention to relevant news or publications (including shocking content).
- Ads that attempt to profit from emergencies and tragic events. For example, you can't advertise products that are in shortage in the event of an emergency. You can't use emergencies to attract attention to advertising topics that aren't directly related to the emergency situation.
- Ads for money-making that offer a certain income over a specific period of time, give guarantees, refer to success stories, or claim that this method of making money is safe and risk-free.
Prescription medication.
Ads for magic services that promise to cause harm.
Tweaking speedometer readings, adjusting car mileage.
Tobacco products.
Goods or services whose production or sale is forbidden or restricted by law in the country where the ads are placed (illegal activity): For example, sale of forged documents or distribution of pornographic materials.
Automated promotion, artificially raising tracking tag values, account sales (with the exception of gaming accounts). We also do not accept ads for businesses that offer to artificially inflate impression numbers.
Financial pyramid schemes.
- Software and services to spoof the phone number in outgoing calls and SMS.
Yandex.Direct ads shown in other countries must also comply with that country's laws on advertising.
Ads for the following goods and services are not permitted:
Gambling, including games where bets are placed or winnings are paid out in non-monetary form (such as online games where the winner receives a product).
Alcohol-containing products.
Smoking accessories.
Services that involve preparing or writing research papers, dissertations, senior theses, coursework, master's theses, exams, or other work required to complete courses or degree programs.
Resources the access to which is limited in the Russian territory (including those prohibited by Roskomnadzor).
For more information about goods and services that are restricted or forbidden for advertising in Russia, see the Rules for Placing Ads on Yandex. Advertising requirements .
Ads for the following goods and services are not permitted:
Infant formula
Work and education abroad.
Fortune telling and divination services.
For more information about goods and services that are restricted or forbidden in advertising in Belarus, see the Rules for Placing Ads on Yandex. Advertising requirements .
Ads for the following goods and services are not permitted:
Alcohol-containing products.
Online casino activities
Infant formula
For more information about goods and services that are restricted or forbidden in advertising in the Republic of Kazakhstan, see the Rules for Placing Ads on Yandex. Advertising requirements .
Ads for the following goods and services are not permitted:
Gambling, including games where bets are placed or winnings are paid out in non-monetary form (such as online games where the winner receives a product).
Firearm accessories and shooting equipment.
Alcohol-containing products.
Bookmaking.
Infant formula
Products similar in construction to weapons.
Smoking accessories.
Supplies for products similar in construction to weapons.
For more information about goods and services that are restricted or forbidden in advertising in the Republic of Kazakhstan, see the Rules for Placing Ads on Yandex. Advertising requirements .
Ads for the following goods and services are not permitted:
Gambling, including sport forecasts, betting offices that deal with games of chance and those that organize them, and games where bets are placed or winnings are paid out in non-monetary form (such as online games where the winner receives a product).
Smoking accessories.
Prohibited online resources
Yandex does not accept advertising of Internet resources created with the intent to deceive users to get their personal data, passwords, money, etc. Yandex.Direct does not serve ads for:
- Sites that use phishing, a kind of Internet fraud, the purpose of which is to obtain the user's secret data (account passwords, credit card number or PIN, etc.).
- Pages created for the purpose of subsequent malicious content substitution (fake sites, stolen content).
- Sites using SMS fraud, i.e., methods that allow you to withdraw money from the mobile account of a site user without their knowledge. For example, when registering on a site using a mobile phone or sending an SMS to a mobile number.
- Doorway sites that exist solely to attract traffic and don't contain any unique or useful content for the user.
- Resources that distribute malware or malicious code.
Unfair methods of ad placement
Yandex considers actions violating the User agreement to be unfair methods of advertising. For example:
Creating deceptive advertising campaigns for the purpose of masking advertisements of illegal products or services
Submitting (by the advertiser) of fake documents and misleading information about the product, service, or store.
Drawing attention using sensational or inciting texts or images.
Replacing the content on the landing page after moderation (e.g., by using redirects) with content that doesn't comply with the law or Yandex requirements.
Use of these methods results in rejection of advertising materials and blocking of the advertiser account without explanation.
For the list of rules and requirements, see the following documents:
When rejecting ads, Yandex reserves the right not to explain a reason to the advertiser to protect the system from malicious actions and protect the interests of other Yandex service users.
