Ad labeling on social media and in Telegram: erid, ORD and the required steps

What ad labeling is and why it exists

Ad labeling usually refers to the requirements of Article 18.1 of the «On Advertising» law for advertising on the internet. In plain terms, an advertising post must have three elements:

1. The label «advertising» and identification of the advertiser: its name and/or a link to a website or page with information about it.
2. An advertising identifier (erid) assigned by the ad data operator. Without it, the law does not allow advertising to be distributed online.
3. Information about the advertising in the unified register. Advertisers, ad distributors and advertising system operators are required to provide it, or to ensure it is provided, through an ORD. This obligation applies to advertising aimed at consumers in Russia that meets the criteria set by the Government of the Russian Federation.

The law states the purpose directly: the record-keeping exists to ensure the traceability of advertising on the internet. The federal body for communications and mass media — Roskomnadzor — records, stores and processes information about distributed advertising, advertisers, ad distributors and advertising system operators.

Article 18.1 has been in effect since September 1, 2022: that is when the provision of Federal Law No. 347-FZ that introduced it took effect. When people refer to the «ad labeling law,» they usually mean this article.

What erid is

Erid is the advertising identifier: a unique digital code needed to trace and record advertising. It is assigned by the ad data operator. Roskomnadzor sets the requirements for the identifier and the procedure for assigning and placing it.

In ORD and advertising system help documentation, erid is also called a token — a string of digits and letters. So when people in Telegram talk about a «token for advertising,» they mean this identifier, not a cryptocurrency. A token is obtained for each creative — a specific piece of advertising material: a post, a banner, or a video.

What ORD and ERIR are

ORD (ad data operator) is the owner of a system for recording internet advertising that Roskomnadzor has authorized to keep such records and pass information to the state. The law requires that information be passed specifically through ad data operators. Roskomnadzor maintains the register of operators. Operators include, for example, Yandex’s ORD and VK’s ORD. We do not compare operators or recommend a specific one: each has its own terms of work.

ERIR (Unified Register of Internet Advertising) is the state database of information about advertising campaigns, run by Roskomnadzor. Through an ORD, it receives information about contracts, creatives and placement statistics.

What advertising must be labeled

The requirements of Article 18.1 apply to advertising distributed on the internet; the article does not name specific platforms. The one exception stated directly in the article concerns the «advertising» label: it is not required for advertising in TV and radio programs that are distributed on the internet.

The main question is whether a post counts as advertising. The answer comes from the definition in Article 3 of the law.

Advertising or not: the criteria

Under the law, advertising is information that:

• is distributed by any method, in any form, using any means;
• is addressed to an indefinite group of people;
• is aimed at attracting attention to the advertised object, generating or maintaining interest in it, and promoting it on the market.

The advertised object can be a product, a means of identifying a company or product (such as a brand), a manufacturer or seller, the result of intellectual activity, or an event. If a post fits these criteria, the labeling requirements apply to it. We do not offer our own «advertising test»: in borderline cases, rely on the text of the law and the regulator’s clarifications.

The law also lists what it does not cover. Among these items are some that can come up on social networks:

• information that must be disclosed or communicated to consumers under federal law;
• reference, informational and analytical materials — market reviews, research and test results — if their main purpose is not to promote a product;
• notices from individuals or companies that are not related to business activity.

A separate question is posts about a company’s own products and services in its own channel. The texts this article relies on give no direct answer, so check the approach to such posts against the regulator’s clarifications or with your ORD. There is a separate article on what to post in a company channel and how to set it up.

Who must label advertising

The law names three groups of participants who are required to provide information about advertising or ensure it is provided: advertisers, ad distributors, and advertising system operators. Yandex’s ORD help documentation answers the question of who bears responsibility for passing the data this way: all participants in the advertising placement chain.

The advertiser is the manufacturer or seller of a product, or another person who determined the advertised object and/or the content of the advertising. The ad distributor is whoever distributes the advertising by any method. The advertising system operator keeps the advertising system running — a system through which advertising is placed on other parties’ resources.

Participant	Who this is in Telegram and VK	What they do
Advertiser	The company or sole trader ordering a post in a channel or from an author	Decides what and how to advertise; required to provide information or ensure it is provided
Ad distributor	The channel owner, author, or community admin who publishes the post	Distributes the advertising; has the same obligation regarding information
Advertising system operator	The company that runs the advertising system, for example VK Ads	Keeps the system running; in VK Ads, ads are labeled automatically
Ad data operator	An organization from the register Roskomnadzor maintains	Assigns erid and passes advertising information to the state

Any participant in the chain can register the creative: the advertiser, an intermediary agency, or the platform. So before placement, it’s worth agreeing who exactly registers the creative and passes the data, and putting that in the contract. This is our recommendation: the law obliges every participant to provide information or ensure it is provided, and it matters that the question isn’t left open.

What data is needed for labeling? To get a token from Yandex’s ORD, you need the basic details of the contract with the end advertiser — the very first contract in the chain — and the creative’s attributes. ERIR receives information about contracts, creatives, and placement statistics. The exact set of fields depends on the operator and the type of placement.

How to label advertising in a Telegram channel: step by step

A common case is a company buying an advertising post from a channel owner. Such placements are called seeding; we wrote separately about where to find subscribers for a channel and how seeding works. The labeling process for seeding is as follows:

1. Agree on who registers the creative. Decide who will enter the data into the ORD — the advertiser, the agency, or the channel owner — and fix this in the contract. Any participant in the chain can do it.
2. Choose an ad data operator. The operator must be in the register Roskomnadzor maintains. Register in its dashboard.
3. Enter the details of the contract and the creative, and get an erid. The ORD issues a token for the registered creative. The creative and the attributes of the original contract are submitted before the first impression.
4. Publish the post with labeling. The post must carry the «advertising» label, identify the advertiser, and include the erid. The law does not allow advertising to be distributed without an assigned identifier.
5. After placement, submit the acts and statistics. Acts between the chain’s participants and impression statistics are submitted to the ORD. Deadlines are set by the record-keeping rules — check them with your operator. Missing a deadline, like incomplete or inaccurate information, is a separate ground for liability.

If the channel owner sells the placement directly and has agreed to handle the labeling, the steps are the same: they register the creative, get the erid, and put it in the post. It is the channel owner who publishes the post, and distributing advertising without an identifier is a separate offense under KoAP RF. So it’s worth checking the erid before publishing, even if the advertiser registered the creative.

What labeling looks like in a post

An advertising post needs three elements: the «advertising» label, identification of the advertiser, and the erid. The advertiser is identified by name and/or a link to a website or a page with information about it. A template without real data:

«Advertising. Advertiser’s name or a link to a page about it. erid: identifier from the ORD»

According to Yandex’s materials, in a text post the erid is published at the beginning or end of the text in the format «erid: …», in a link as the ?erid= parameter, and on a banner directly over the image. Roskomnadzor sets the exact requirements for where to place the identifier, and the formats get refined over time. So check your ORD’s documentation before publishing.

Telegram Ads and advertising through advertising systems

If advertising is bought not directly from the channel owner but through an advertising system, part of the work can fall on the system. For example, in VK Ads, ads are labeled automatically — more on that in the next section. In the materials of the official Telegram Ads platform that we checked, the procedure for labeling Russian advertising is not described. So when buying advertising there, or through an intermediary, ask the seller who registers the creative and passes the data to the ORD. We covered how the official platform differs from other formats in our overview of Telegram advertising formats.

Ad labeling on VK and other social networks

On VK, the same two situations apply as in Telegram.

Advertising through the VK Ads dashboard. According to VK Ads help documentation, ads launched through it are labeled automatically, and the system passes the data to ERIR. The condition is choosing the right account type (individual, legal entity, or agency) and filling in the legal details. The ad then gets the «Advertising» label, information about the advertiser, and a token. Agencies submit reports (acts) for their clients themselves. There’s a separate article on how campaign setup works in VK Ads.

Advertising with an author or in a community. If you arrange a post directly with an author or a community admin, this is the same kind of placement as seeding in Telegram. The creative is registered with an ORD, the erid and the label are added to the post, and acts and statistics are submitted after placement. The procedure is in the Telegram section above.

The same logic applies to other social networks: Article 18.1 covers advertising on the internet in general. Check each platform’s help documentation for what it does automatically.

Liability and fines for advertising without labeling

Liability for violations in internet advertising is set out in Article 14.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (KoAP RF), «Violation of advertising legislation.» Below are the parts that directly concern labeling, plus the general Part 1, as worded on October 10, 2026.

Violation	Provision	Individuals	Officials	Legal entities
Information about advertising was not submitted to Roskomnadzor, or was submitted late, incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated	Part 15 of Article 14.3 KoAP	10,000–30,000 ₽	30,000–100,000 ₽	200,000–500,000 ₽
Advertising was distributed without an identifier assigned by an ORD, or in violation of the requirements for placing it	Part 16 of Article 14.3 KoAP	30,000–100,000 ₽	100,000–200,000 ₽	200,000–500,000 ₽
Violation of advertising legislation by an advertiser, ad producer, or ad distributor, where the case is not covered by special provisions	Part 1 of Article 14.3 KoAP	2,000–2,500 ₽	4,000–20,000 ₽	100,000–500,000 ₽

Part 15 applies to advertisers, ad distributors, and advertising system operators — the same participants the law names. Article 14.3 has no separate part for the absence of the «advertising» label or advertiser identification. Part 1 is the general provision for violations of advertising legislation that don’t fall under the article’s other parts or a number of other KoAP articles. How to qualify a specific case is decided by the body reviewing it.

Cases under Parts 15–17 of Article 14.3 are handled by the body that oversees communications, information technology, and mass media — that is, Roskomnadzor. Cases under Parts 1–14 and 18 are handled by the antimonopoly body.

The amounts are given per the text of KoAP as of the verification date. The rules change, so check the current version before making decisions.

Common labeling mistakes

These mistakes follow from the law’s requirements and the operators’ rules. The list is our recommendation for self-checking, not a list from the law.

• The label is there, but no erid. The law allows internet advertising to be distributed only with an assigned identifier.
• The post was changed after getting the erid. Each creative needs its own token, and a creative cannot be changed after its first impression. If the text or image is edited, the creative must be registered again.
• The post doesn’t identify the advertiser. An erid doesn’t replace the label or the advertiser’s information: these are separate requirements of the law.
• No decision on who submits the data. Every participant has this obligation. If it’s not fixed in the contract, the information risks not being submitted at all.
• Acts and statistics weren’t submitted. The work doesn’t end with publication: failing to submit information, missing deadlines, and incomplete data are grounds for liability under Part 15 of Article 14.3 KoAP.

FAQ

Can you get an erid after publishing a post?

Under the law, advertising can be distributed on the internet only if an ORD has already assigned it an identifier. Yandex’s ORD help documentation says creatives and contract attributes are submitted before the first impression. Yandex’s materials name one exception — online broadcasts: the creative can be registered after the broadcast ends.

Who pays for labeling?

Article 18.1 says nothing about cost. Each operator has its own terms of work. The participants can fix in the contract who registers the creative and bears the costs.

Does advertising in stories and videos need to be labeled?

Article 18.1 has no separate exceptions for stories and videos. The only exception to the labeling requirement is for advertising in TV and radio programs distributed on the internet. According to Yandex’s materials, on video the erid is placed at the start of the clip and/or over the advertising message.

Does labeling apply to individuals?

Yes. The law doesn’t limit advertisers and ad distributors to companies. Fines for individuals are also provided for — in Parts 15 and 16 of Article 14.3 KoAP.

This is not legal advice: the rules are current as of October 10, 2026.