Labeling of online advertising 2025–2026: ORD, ERID and what will happen if you don’t label

From September 1, 2023, every advertisement on the RuNet must have an ERID - a token of three to eight letters and numbers that turns an advertisement from a “beautiful picture” into an “officially registered event.” The fine for absence is up to RUB 500,000 for legal entities. In my practice, this has become the point where marketers are divided into two camps: those who have figured it out and are working calmly, and those who still hope that it will “dissolve itself.”

It won't resolve. Roskomnadzor has already conducted the first demonstration inspections in 2024. I’m analyzing the law without filler: who is obliged to label, how to obtain ERID, what formats are exempt, and what exactly to check before launching a campaign.

1. Why did it appear and who does it hurt?

Until September 2023, online advertising in Russia was a “gray area” in terms of transparency. Nobody knew the real volumes, the chains between the advertiser and the platform, or the final budgets. The Law on Labeling of Internet Advertising (amendments to the Federal Law “On Advertising”, Article 18.1) is the state’s response to this opacity.

Goal: to create tracking of each advertisement from the advertiser to the end user through Roskomnadzor. The tool is a system of ORD (advertising data operators) as intermediaries between market participants and RKN.

Fines under the Code of Administrative Offenses (Article 14.3):

The real risk is not a one-time fine. If the RKN finds a system violation (10+ unmarked placements), the fines are summed up for each ad. For an agency with dozens of clients, this is potentially catastrophic.

2. Who is required to label: triangle of responsibility

The law builds a triangle of three participants, each of whom is responsible for their own part of the chain:

• Advertiser — a company or person in whose interests the advertisement is displayed. Must transfer data to ORD and receive ERID before launching advertising. Responsibility is for registering the contract and advertising object.
• Advertising distributor — a platform or blogger who places advertisements. Required to place ERID in the ad and submit a report on impressions. If a blogger posted a post without an ERID, this is a violation, even if the advertiser provided the token.
• Agency - an intermediary in the chain. If the agency has entered into an agreement with the advertiser and placed the advertisement itself, it becomes an advertising distributor with all responsibilities.

In my experience, the most common “failure” is that the agency receives the ERID, but forgets to give it to the blogger. Or the blogger receives an ERID, but enters it incorrectly. The result is a fine for both.

The logic is simple: all three links in the chain must do their part. If one thing is not done, the entire chain is at risk.

3. What is ORD and how does ERID work?

ORD (advertising data operator) is an accredited intermediary company that accepts advertising data from market participants and transmits it to Roskomnadzor. As of 2025, there are seven ORDs in Russia:

• ORD Yandex
• ORD VKontakte
• ORD Ozon
• ORD Sber
• ORD MTS
• Bullseye (Amberdata)
• First ORD (Mediaskop)

The work chain looks like this:

1. The advertiser or agency is registered in the ORD
2. Register the participants in the transaction (parties to the agreement) and the agreement itself
3. Create an advertising card (type, site, budget)
4. ORD issues ERID - a unique token of the form “erid:Kra23JfPd”
5. ERID is placed in the advertisement along with the “Advertising” mark
6. After the impressions, data on actual impressions (acts) are transmitted to the ORD within 30 days.
7. ORD aggregates and transmits data to RKN

If advertising comes through Yandex Direct or VK Ads — ORD is connected automatically inside the office. You just need to make sure that the company data in your account is filled out. For self-hosting (bloggers, third-party sites) - registration in the ORD manually.

4. Formats exempt from marking

Not everything that looks like an advertisement is legally an advertisement. Released:

• SEO articles on your own website — organic content about your product without payment by third parties is not advertising
• Email newsletters from our own database - letters to your subscribers. If you bought a “foreign database” and mailing it to it is already advertising
• Press releases and PR materials — publications in the media of an editorial nature (unpaid placements)
• Content on your own social networks about your product — posts in your corporate VKontakte account about your products/services
• Search results — organic results from Yandex and Google (but not contextual advertising)

Case study: a client publishes a review of his new product in his own TG channel - without labeling. The same client pays a blogger for a similar review - labeling is required. The difference is in the availability of payment and in whose interests the publication promotes.

5. Labeling in Yandex Direct and VK Ads: automatically or manually

The good news is that large platforms have built ODS inside their offices. If you run advertising through them, they take on most of the work.

Yandex Direct

ORD Yandex automatically receives the ERID for each advertisement, adds the “Advertising” tag and transmits reports to the RKN. Your responsibilities: in the organization settings in Yandex.Business, the TIN, OGRN and type of advertiser (individual, individual entrepreneur, legal entity) must be filled in correctly. Without correct data, the ORD will not be able to correctly register the chain.

Check the labeling: in the ad parameters, open the “Advertising labeling” section - there will be an ERID and the status of data transfer to the RKN. Read more about setting up your account in my guide to Yandex Direct 2026.

VK Ads

Similarly: ORD VKontakte is built into the new advertising account VK Ads. When creating a campaign, the account automatically registers the ad in the ORD, and the ERID is added to the impressions. You need to make sure that the account settings are filled in with the details - TIN and taxpayer status. A complete guide to the office is in my article VK Ads 2026.

6. Labeling native content, bloggers and Telegram integrations: manually step by step

This is the most tame and risky segment - this is where most violations occur. Working with influencers in TG, VK and Zen requires you to go through the entire cycle yourself.

Step by step process:

1. Register with the ORD. For working with bloggers, First ORD (ord.vk.com) or Yablochko are convenient. Registration is free.
2. Create participant cards: advertiser (you or your client) and advertiser (blogger). For a blogger, you need an INN/OGRN or passport data and a form of activity.
3. Register the agreement: number, date, type (provision of services), parties, subject, amount. Even a verbal agreement for a “free” product is an agreement if the publication is advertising.
4. Create an advertising object: ad description, type (text-graphic, video, native), platform (Telegram, VK, Zen), planned display dates.
5. Get ERID — ORD issues a token in the format “erid:AbcDef123”. Give it to the blogger before publishing.
6. Blogger posts with ERID. In Telegram it is added to the beginning or end of the text: “Advertising. erid:AbcDef123". ERID must be readable - not in the metadata, not in the background color.
7. After the screening, submit a report to the operational department — statistics of impressions within 30 days from the end of placement. The ORD automatically goes to the RKN.

More details about working with bloggers can be found in my article. influencer marketing in Russia 2026. If we are talking about Telegram Ads (official advertising account of Telegram) - there the marking goes through intermediaries and has its own specifics.

7. Table of penalties and common mistakes

Top mistakes from my practice:

• The ERID was received, but not added to the post - the blogger “forgot”. The responsibility of the blogger, but the fine also hangs over the advertiser.
• ERID is added to the image with text that is not visible on a dark background. Formally, the violation is that the ERID must be readable.
• The report on the screenings was not transferred to the operational department - “forgotten.” The most common reason for fines during inspections.
• One ERID for several different sites. Each site has its own ERID.
• The advertiser in the ORD is indicated incorrectly - another legal entity instead of the actual customer.

8. Checklist: what to check before launching

A quick check before starting any advertising placement:

• The advertiser's details in the Yandex Direct or VK Ads account are filled out correctly (TIN, OGRN, type)
• For blogger integrations - the agreement is registered in the ORD before publication
• ERID was received before the start of placement, not after
• ERID was passed to the blogger and added to the post - not hidden metadata
• The “Advertising” mark is present next to the ERID - readable in the background
• For each site - a separate ERID (not just one for everything)
• Calendar reminder: submit a report on impressions to the ORD within 30 days
• If you work with an agency, who exactly is responsible for registering in the operational investigative agency is stated in the contract

The full performance cycle - from advertising launch to analytics - is in my article performance in Russia 2026.

If you need help setting up labeling for your project or auditing current advertising campaigns, write to me on Telegram @dipustovalov or through the form on the page contacts.

Related materials: marketing brief template, CPC benchmarks in Yandex Direct, a complete guide to performance marketing.