The Belarusian Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade has identified violations of advertising legislation by travel blogger Artsiom Ryndevich. He has been issued an order to eliminate the violations.
According to the ministry, Ryndevich advertised the establishment “Rebryk i Dranik” on Facebook, comparing it with the restaurant “Vasilki” and making “negative statements” about the latter.
“While advertising the public catering establishment ‘Rebryk i Dranik’ and the dish prepared there (draniki and ribs) on his Facebook account, Artsiom Ryndevich compared ‘Rebryk i Dranik’ with the restaurant ‘Vasilki,’ allowing himself negative statements about the restaurant,” the press release said.
The ministry noted that such advertising has been recognized as unfair and is prohibited by law. In addition, it was established that the blogger is not included in the Register of Advertising Distributors and therefore does not have the right to provide advertising services on the internet.
Following the monitoring, six advertising distributors were also removed from the register of bloggers. As of March 5, the register contains more than 10,000 participants.
For violating advertising legislation, an individual faces a fine of five to ten base units, an individual entrepreneur from ten to twenty-five base units, and a legal entity from twenty to fifty base units.