VelisAds Network

Publisher Policy

Effective date: February 17, 2026 | Version: 2026.02-global

This Publisher Policy establishes mandatory standards for inventory authenticity, traffic quality, user experience, and responsible monetization on VelisAds Network.

Every publisher is accountable for the behavior of delegated users, partner traffic, and connected inventory.

Scope and Applicability

  1. Applies to all websites and apps linked to publisher accounts on VelisAds Network.
  2. Applies to direct, syndicated, and partner-managed traffic sources.
  3. Applies to onboarding, ongoing operations, and inventory expansion requests.
  4. Applies to placement strategy, ad refresh behavior, and user interaction design.
  5. Applies to reporting integrity and payout eligibility controls.
  6. Applies to all geographies where publisher inventory receives ad demand.

Mandatory Requirements

Inventory Authenticity

  • Publishers must monetize only properties they control or are contractually authorized to operate.
  • Domain and app ownership proof must remain valid throughout account lifecycle.
  • Seller transparency files (such as ads.txt/app-ads.txt) should be maintained where applicable.
  • Material ownership changes must be reported before monetization resumes.

Traffic Quality Controls

  • Traffic acquisition sources must be traceable and lawful.
  • Bot traffic, click inflation, and synthetic sessions must be actively prevented.
  • Incentivized traffic requires explicit disclosure and approval before activation.
  • Quality anomalies must be investigated and remediated within defined SLAs.

User Experience Standards

  • Ad placements must not block navigation or mislead users into accidental interaction.
  • Content should remain readable and accessible on desktop and mobile devices.
  • Forced redirects, fake system prompts, and deceptive overlays are prohibited.
  • Publishers must remove illegal or harmful content after valid notice.

Prohibited Practices

  1. Generating invalid impressions or clicks using bots, scripts, or click farms.
  2. Hiding ad units behind invisible elements or deceptive UI placements.
  3. Monetizing malware distribution, phishing, or counterfeit content ecosystems.
  4. Masking traffic sources to bypass anti-fraud and policy controls.
  5. Impersonating brands, authorities, or trusted service providers.
  6. Running prohibited syndicated traffic without disclosure.
  7. Re-enabling blocked inventory without approved remediation.
  8. Manipulating domain verification or integration evidence.

Governance, Monitoring, and Enforcement

  1. Publisher compliance scores are tracked and influence delivery eligibility.
  2. Progressive enforcement includes warnings, throttling, holds, suspension, and termination.
  3. Appeals must include corrective actions and objective evidence.
  4. High-risk incidents are escalated to trust, legal, and fraud teams.
  5. Forensic evidence is retained for audit and partner dispute handling.
  6. Reinstatement is conditional on successful remediation validation.
  7. Policy exceptions require written approval and periodic revalidation.
  8. Changes are versioned and communicated before enforcement where possible.

Global Source Links and Standards

  1. IAB Tech Lab ads.txt
  2. IAB Tech Lab app-ads.txt
  3. IAB Tech Lab sellers.json
  4. IAB Tech Lab OpenRTB
  5. Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG)
  6. FTC Advertising and Marketing Guidance
  7. Google Search Spam Policies
  8. Bing Webmaster Guidelines

Operational Interpretation and Regional Mapping

These requirements should be interpreted as global baseline controls for a live ad operations platform. Teams must map each requirement to local legal obligations, contractual duties, and traffic-source constraints before enabling production delivery at scale.

When regional regulations impose stricter standards, the stricter standard applies. Where legal ambiguity exists, operations should default to least-risk handling and documented escalation to legal or compliance owners.

Policy-to-Workflow Mapping

  • Map each policy control to one concrete workflow checkpoint.
  • Define accountable owner, review cadence, and evidence source.
  • Link policy failures to clear remediation and rollback actions.
  • Track policy exceptions with expiry and approval metadata.

Evidence and Audit Quality

  • Keep verifiable logs for approvals, enforcement, and account state changes.
  • Maintain immutable records for policy acceptance and version changes.
  • Preserve incident evidence with timestamp accuracy and actor context.
  • Support regulator and partner audits with structured evidence retrieval.

Release and Change Governance

  • Run policy impact review before major workflow or billing changes.
  • Gate high-risk releases behind compliance and security readiness checks.
  • Document rollback criteria for policy or abuse regressions.
  • Communicate material policy updates with effective-date clarity.

Extended Compliance Checklist

  1. Confirm access controls for admin, publisher, advertiser, and support roles.
  2. Verify domain ownership, sitemap coverage, and install-code integrity before launch.
  3. Validate ad creatives, landing behavior, and category eligibility rules.
  4. Ensure budget, spend, and settlement paths align with billing model selection.
  5. Run fraud and abuse controls for both ad-serving and click attribution pathways.
  6. Confirm user data handling for consent, retention, and rights-response timelines.
  7. Check payout safeguards, webhook integrity, and transaction audit visibility.
  8. Review security events, incident triage flow, and postmortem documentation quality.
  9. Ensure policy pages remain reachable, indexable, and version-consistent in sitemap.
  10. Require periodic policy refresh training for operational and support teams.

Policy FAQ for Operations Teams

How often should this policy be reviewed?

Review before each major release and at recurring governance intervals, especially when billing logic, targeting controls, or verification workflows change.

What happens if live behavior conflicts with policy text?

Live enforcement should default to safer behavior immediately, then trigger incident review and documented correction to either implementation or policy wording.

How should teams handle partner-specific requirements?

Apply partner requirements as stricter overlays where needed, while preserving baseline platform controls and maintaining auditable policy-to-process mapping.