Advertising, Sponsorship and Branded Content Policy

1. Principles

This policy explains how GUAY.news (owned by WEBSITESYSEO S.L.) accepts, labels and publishes advertising, sponsorship and branded content on the guay.news website, in the app, in the «Las 7 de las 7» newsletter, on our social media profiles and on our video channel. It applies to advertisers, to agencies acting on their behalf and to our own team. It is based on three principles:

• Editorial independence. The selection, writing, verification and publication of news depend solely on the editorial management, led by Fredi Mosteirín. No advertiser, sponsor or commercial partner can decide what is or is not published, when or how.
• Clear separation. Advertising and branded content can be distinguished at a glance from news content by their label, design and placement.
• Transparency. We always tell you who is paying for commercial content and what our relationship with it is, even where it concerns our own products or a commission on a link.

These principles build on the editorial line described in the Terms of Use and the Notice on the Use of Artificial Intelligence.

2. Formats we accept

We do not accept formats that make it difficult to distinguish advertising from news content, such as unlabelled advertorials, ads imitating the design of a news story, paid mentions within the text of a news story or advertising inserted into headlines.

3. Mandatory labelling of advertising

3.1. Legal framework

Every commercial communication must be clearly identifiable as such and must identify the person on whose behalf it is made (Article 20 of Law 34/2002 on information society services and electronic commerce, «LSSI»). Law 34/1988, the General Advertising Law, deems covert advertising unlawful, and Article 26 of Law 3/1991 on Unfair Competition classifies as unfair the use of editorial content in the media to promote a good or service where the trader has paid for the promotion without this being made clear in the content or by images or sounds clearly identifiable by the consumer.

3.2. How we apply it

• The label appears before or above the commercial content, in a legible size and contrast, and is not hidden in a footer, a text-free icon or a pop-up.
• Where content is sponsored, the sponsor is named.
• Labels are kept when content is shared, recommended in the app or distributed on social media; on social media we also use each platform’s branded content tools.
• Affiliate links are marked individually and, in addition, every piece containing them includes a notice at the beginning: «This article contains affiliate links: if you buy through them, GUAY.news may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you».
• Commercial links carry the technical attributes that tell search engines they are sponsored.

4. Editorial independence and branded content

4.1. Sponsored content is not news

Branded content is never presented as news. It is not published in the daily news feed without its label, is not included in «Las 7 de las 7», does not carry the «Original source» footer used for our news stories and is not presented as written by the GUAY.news newsroom.

4.2. Separation from the automated newsroom system

Our news stories are selected and written using an automated system assisted by artificial intelligence and approved by the editorial team, as described in the Notice on the Use of Artificial Intelligence. That system works exclusively with information published by news media: it is not fed with press releases or advertisers’ materials, and no payment can cause a news story to be selected, prioritised or written in a particular way. Branded content is produced through a separate workflow and is never generated with the automated editorial system without the corresponding brand label. If artificial intelligence is used in producing branded content, this is also disclosed.

4.3. Advertisers do not review or influence the news

• Advertisers and sponsors do not receive in advance, review or approve any news story, including those that concern them.
• Being an advertiser neither entitles a company to news coverage nor excludes it: if a positive news story about an advertiser meets our criteria, it may be published, and the story will disclose the commercial relationship where this is relevant to readers.
• Withdrawing, or threatening to withdraw, advertising has no bearing on editorial decisions.
• For branded content, the advertiser may review the piece it has commissioned and request corrections of facts about its company or product, but GUAY.news retains the final decision on publication and may refuse changes that would make it misleading or contrary to this policy.

4.4. Own products

When we promote products from our shop we do so in identified advertising or shop spaces. Purchases are governed by the General Terms of Sale.

5. Excluded categories

We do not accept, in any format, advertising, sponsorship or branded content for:

• Political advertising, within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising: messages from parties, candidates, public office holders, election or referendum campaigns, or messages liable to influence a legislative, regulatory or electoral process. This exclusion is consistent with our editorial line, which does not cover political news. Non-partisan public-interest campaigns by public authorities (for example, on public health, road safety or blood donation) are not political advertising, and we may accept them if they comply with this policy.
• Gambling and games of chance, including commercial lotteries, bookmakers, casinos and their bonuses or promotions.
• Tobacco, related products and vapes, including e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches.
• Alcoholic beverages of any strength.
• Weapons, ammunition and accessories, and products intended to cause harm.
• Crypto-assets and speculative financial products: cryptocurrencies, tokens, NFTs, contracts for difference (CFDs), leveraged forex, binary options, high-return investment schemes and promises of quick profits.
• Payday loans and high-cost credit, and debt consolidation services on abusive terms.
• Pseudo-therapies and miracle products: therapies without scientific evidence presented as an alternative to medicine, and products promising to cure diseases, effortless weight loss or similar effects.
• Sexual content or dating services with a sexual purpose.
• Advertising directed at minors for products unsuitable for them, and any advertising that exploits their inexperience or credulity.
• Messages that are discriminatory, undermine human dignity or portray women in a degrading way (Article 3 of the General Advertising Law).
• Illegal products or services, counterfeits and any misleading, unfair or aggressive advertising.
• In general, any message whose tone or content contradicts the newspaper’s «good news» line: fear-based, alarmist or violent advertising, or advertising that relies on negativity to sell.

This list is not exhaustive. We may refuse other categories or campaigns in accordance with section 11.

6. Health advertising, health claims and environmental claims

6.1. Health

We only accept advertising for products, activities or services with a health purpose where it complies with Royal Decree 1907/1996 on advertising and commercial promotion of products, activities or services with a purported health purpose, which prohibits, among other things, attributing unproven preventive or therapeutic effects, suggesting that medical advice can be dispensed with or using testimonials from health professionals. We do not publish advertising for prescription-only medicines, and advertising for medicines that may be advertised to the public or for medical devices is accepted only if it complies with the applicable sector rules and their control requirements.

6.2. Food

Nutrition and health claims in the advertising of food and food supplements must comply with Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 and appear in the EU register of authorised claims. We do not accept claims that a product «cures», «prevents» or «treats» a disease.

6.3. Environment

Given the importance we attach to environmental news, we are particularly demanding with environmental claims. We do not accept generic environmental claims («environmentally friendly», «green», «sustainable», «carbon neutral» based on offsetting) that are not substantiated, or sustainability labels that are not based on a certification scheme or established by public authorities, in line with Directive (EU) 2024/825 on empowering consumers for the green transition. We may ask the advertiser to substantiate any claim before publication.

7. Minors

GUAY.news is a newspaper suitable for all audiences and may be read by minors. All advertising we accept must therefore be suitable for them: it must not directly exhort them to buy by exploiting their inexperience, persuade their parents to buy, exploit their trust in adults or show them in dangerous situations without reason, in accordance with the General Advertising Law, the Unfair Competition Law and Law 13/2022, the General Audiovisual Communication Law.

8. Advertising and personal data

• No profiling without consent. We do not show advertising based on profiles built from your browsing, location or personal data unless you have given your prior, free, specific and informed consent. By default our advertising is contextual: it relates to the section or topic you are reading, not to you.
• No third-party ad networks at present. Ads and sponsorships are served directly from our own platform, without advertising cookies. If in the future we introduce third-party advertising technologies that use cookies or identifiers, they will only be activated with your consent through the cookie panel, and we will first reflect this in the Cookie Policy and the Privacy Policy.
• App without advertising SDKs. The GUAY.news app does not integrate any advertising SDKs or third-party trackers, does not track you across apps and does not use the iOS advertising identifier (IDFA) or the Android Advertising ID. If a sponsorship appears in the app, it is served from our servers like any other content, without collecting data for the advertiser.
• We never pass data to advertisers. We do not sell or disclose to advertisers or sponsors your account data, comments, newsletter subscription or purchases. We only give advertisers aggregated, anonymous statistics (for example, the number of impressions or clicks on a link), with no personal data.
• We never use special categories of data (health, beliefs, sexual orientation, etc.) to target advertising.

9. Commercial communications by email

We only send you commercial communications by email or equivalent electronic means if you have given us your express consent or, if you are a customer of the shop, about products similar to those you bought from us provided you have not objected, as permitted by Article 21 LSSI. You can unsubscribe from any such communication easily and free of charge.

The «Las 7 de las 7» newsletter is a news service to which you subscribe with double opt-in. If it includes a sponsorship, this is labelled as such («Advertisement» and «Sponsored by…») and kept separate from the news; the sponsor does not receive the subscriber list, and the newsletter contains no individual open or click tracking pixels. We never send our subscribers emails whose sole content is a third party’s advertising.

10. Videos and audiovisual commercial communications

When we publish videos with commercial content on our video channel or on social media, we will apply, to the extent applicable, the rules on audiovisual commercial communications in Law 13/2022, the General Audiovisual Communication Law:

• Sponsorship and product placement are identified at the beginning, during or at the end of the video by a visible message or overlay («Sponsored by…», «Includes product placement»).
• There is no covert or subliminal advertising, and no advertising that affects editorial responsibility for the content.
• The platform’s commercial content disclosure tools are enabled (for example, YouTube’s paid promotion box).
• The legal prohibitions and restrictions on products (tobacco, prescription medicines, alcohol, gambling) are observed; in any case, these are already excluded by section 5.

11. Right to refuse or remove advertising

GUAY.news may refuse any proposal for advertising, sponsorship or branded content, or remove content already published, where it is contrary to the law or to this policy, where it may be confused with editorial content, where it harms readers’ trust or the newspaper’s reputation, or where we receive a well-founded complaint or a decision from an authority or a self-regulatory body. If we remove a campaign already contracted, we will notify the advertiser and give the reason and, unless the removal is due to a breach by the advertiser, we will refund the proportional part not delivered, as agreed in the contract.

12. Advertiser responsibility

Advertisers are responsible for the content of their advertising messages and warrant that:

• They are truthful, not misleading and comply with the General Advertising Law, the Unfair Competition Law, Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007 on consumer protection and the applicable sector rules.
• They can substantiate the objective claims they contain (prices, characteristics, health or environmental claims, comparisons).
• They hold the intellectual and industrial property rights, image rights and any other rights in the texts, logos, images, music and videos they supply to us, or have sufficient authorisation to use them, and they authorise us to reproduce and communicate them to the public for the campaign.
• Where they use images or voices generated or manipulated with artificial intelligence that appear real, they disclose it, and they do not depict real people without their authorisation.

Advertisers will hold WEBSITESYSEO S.L. harmless against claims by third parties or authorities arising from the content of their messages, on the terms set out in the advertising contract and without prejudice to GUAY.news’s liability for its own acts. The specific conditions of each campaign (price, duration, formats, metrics) are set out in the contract or insertion order, which must in all cases comply with this policy.

13. Self-regulation

We take as our benchmark of good practice the Code of Advertising Practice of Autocontrol (the Spanish Association for the Self-Regulation of Commercial Communications) and its sector codes. Where we have doubts about the lawfulness of a campaign, we may ask the advertiser to obtain a prior opinion (copy advice) from Autocontrol before publication.

14. How to advertise with GUAY.news

If you would like to advertise, sponsor a section or the newsletter, or propose branded content, write to us at info@guay.news. We will send you our rates, available formats, technical specifications and the contract or insertion order. By contracting, the advertiser accepts this policy, which forms part of the contract. We recommend telling us about your proposal before producing any material, so that we can check it fits our line.

15. Complaints about advertising

If you believe that an advertisement, sponsorship or branded content published on GUAY.news is not properly labelled, is misleading, is inappropriate or breaches this policy, write to us at info@guay.news or info@guay.news, stating where and when you saw it. We will review every complaint and reply within one month at most; if the complaint is well founded, we will remove or correct the advertisement.

You may also file a complaint with Autocontrol’s Advertising Jury, with the consumer services of your region or, for audiovisual advertising, with the competent audiovisual authority. If you consider an advertisement to be illegal, you may also use the illegal content notification procedure described in the Terms of Use.

16. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy to reflect legal changes or new formats. Each version states its number and effective date. Campaigns already contracted are governed by the version in force when the contract was signed, unless a legal change requires them to be adapted.

This English version is a full translation provided for your convenience. In the event of any discrepancy between the Spanish and English versions, the Spanish version prevails, unless mandatory consumer protection law provides otherwise.