Nepal has approved the 'National Advertising Policy 2083', a national framework that puts AI-generated content, deepfakes, and influencer marketing under formal advertising regulation for the first time.

The policy title uses the Nepali calendar year 2083, which corresponds to the current 2026/2027 period in the Gregorian calendar. Ekantipur reported the approval, framing the policy as the state's answer to advertising practices that existing rules never anticipated.

What does the new policy regulate?

According to the report, the policy targets three areas that have grown largely unchecked in recent years:

• Artificial intelligence — the use of AI tools in producing and distributing advertising content;
• Deepfakes — synthetic media that can place real people's faces or voices in advertisements they never made;
• Influencer marketing — paid promotions by social-media personalities, until now operating outside the formal advertising regulatory perimeter.

Each of these categories raises the same practical problem for regulators: content can be produced at scale, with no clear line between organic endorsement and paid placement. The policy draws that line at the national level.

Why does this matter now?

AI-generated advertising and synthetic media have moved faster than most national advertising codes written for print, radio, and television. Nepal's decision to fold influencer marketing into a national policy follows a pattern seen in other markets, where paid social-media promotion now accounts for a meaningful share of brand budgets but has often sat in a regulatory gap.

The policy's approval signals that advertisers and agencies operating in Nepal will need to account for state rules when they use generative AI tools, commission synthetic likeness, or contract influencers for promotion.

What happens next?

The report confirms approval of the policy itself. Implementation details — enforcement mechanisms, penalties, disclosure requirements for influencers, and any approval process for AI-assisted ad content — will determine how much the framework changes day-to-day practice for brands and agencies in the Nepali market.

Operators in the sector will be watching for the implementing rules that translate the policy into compliance obligations.