News

Saudi Arabia To Require Individuals To Procure Social Media Ad Licenses

To avoid financial penalties, individuals publishing ads on social media platforms are required to obtain a license before October 1, 2022.

Published

4 years ago

August 5, 2022

David Morelo

saudi arabia to require individuals to procure social media licenses

Soon, it will be more difficult for individuals in Saudi Arabia to advertise on social media because the Saudi Arabian government has decided to make it mandatory for those publishing ads on social media platforms to obtain social media ad licenses.

“This move would contribute to regulate the advertising sector and digital content in the Kingdom,” said acting Minister of Media Dr. Majed Al-Qasabi.

One license will cost SR15,000 ($4,000), and it will be valid for three years. Applications will be accepted through the I’lam platform, and they will be available to all Saudi citizens living in the Kingdom or abroad as well as to the citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates).

One Saudi influencer, Abdullah Al-Sabaa, has already applied for his license, and he said that the entire process took only a few minutes. Sabaa believes that the move will help regulate the advertising market on social media — something he sees as a positive development.

With each license come certain conditions and obligations that must be fulfilled. For example, license holders will be required to provide any data requested by the General Commission for Audiovisual Media, and they must stop advertising any content prohibited by a directive issued by the commission.

Also Read: Dubai’s Finance Strategy For 2026 Hopes To Achieve Financial Sustainability

To avoid financial penalties, individuals publishing ads on social media platforms are required to obtain a license before October 1, 2022.

The United Arab Emirates already requires individuals to obtain a similar license. The UAE license also costs $4,000, but it’s valid only for one year instead of three.

The global social media advertising market was valued at a little over $180 billion in 2021, and it’s estimated that it will reach $330 billion by 2025. What are your thoughts on social media ad licenses?

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.