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Five industries, five regulators

Social media services for regulated industries

Some industries carry advertising rules of their own, set by their own regulator, and those rules follow a business onto social media. This guide, published by Dotto, takes five of them in turn: health practitioners, financial products, medicines, residential property and alcohol and gambling, each from the regulator’s own pages, listed at the foot of every page.

General information, not legal advice, and never a view on any one business’s posts. The places to check are Ahpra for health practitioners, ASIC for financial products, the TGA for medicines, NSW Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs Victoria for property, and the ACMA, Liquor & Gaming NSW and the ABAC Scheme for gambling and alcohol.

Close up, the edges of a stack of papers in blue, copper, green and yellow, sharp in the middle and soft at either end.
Coloured edges, one stack. Photo by fill on Pixabay

Five tabs, one rule from each

Each row names who sets the rules, what they rest on, and one rule that reaches a post. The guides take each row further.

One rule per industry, from each regulator’s own page.
IndustryWho sets the rulesOne rule that reaches a post
Health practitionersAhpra and the National Boards, under the National Law and the advertising guidelines that took effect on 14 December 2020. Advertising a regulated health service must not use testimonials about its clinical side.
Financial productsASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001, with its Information Sheet 269 on discussing financial products online. A licensee may be liable for misconduct by the influencers it uses.
Medicines and medical devicesThe TGA, under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code 2021, in effect from 1 January 2022. Paid or incentivised testimonials can’t be used in an ad.
Residential propertyNSW Fair Trading, under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002, and Consumer Affairs Victoria, under Victoria’s underquoting laws. In both states, an agent may not advertise a property below the agent’s own estimate of its selling price.
Alcohol and gamblingFor gambling, the ACMA and state rules such as NSW’s; for alcohol, the ABAC Scheme, which is funded entirely by industry, alongside state liquor laws. Ads for prohibited interactive gambling services are banned online, and the ABAC Code reaches marketing in social media.

Who answers for a post someone else made

Four of the five sets of rules say who checks, or who answers for, content a business did not write itself.

  • Ahpra: an advertiser controls content it publishes, authorises or directs someone else to draft, a marketing agency included, so it needs to check what others produce for it.
  • ASIC: an Australian financial services (AFS) licensee may be liable for misconduct by the influencers it uses.
  • The TGA: businesses and account holders are responsible for the social media content they create or manage, and that may extend to comments other people post.
  • The ABAC Scheme: the first of its four decision points for judging whether marketing meets its standards is company and advertising agency staff checking each piece of marketing, and where it is placed, against the Code.

For residential property, the duties sit with the agent: in NSW, according to its underquoting guidance last updated on 8 July 2026, an agent who revises an estimate must take all reasonable steps to amend or retract ads showing a price below the revised estimate.

The five guides

  1. Health practitioners and testimonials

    What Ahpra counts as a testimonial, reviews on pages a clinic runs, before and after pictures, titles and offers.

  2. Financial products and finfluencers

    The licensee’s side of Information Sheet 269: paying someone to post, monitoring them, and disclosure.

  3. Medicines and therapeutic goods

    Which posts the TGA treats as ads, testimonials against endorsements, and comments, links and tags.

  4. Property ads and prices

    Underquoting in NSW and Victoria side by side, and Victoria’s rules from 1 October 2026.

  5. Alcohol and gambling posts

    Gambling ads under the ACMA and NSW law, and alcohol marketing under the industry’s ABAC Code.

Dates these rules count from

  1. 14 December 2020Ahpra’s revised advertising guidelines take effect.
  2. October 2021The design and distribution obligations for financial products take effect.
  3. 1 January 2022The Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code 2021 comes into effect.
  4. July 2024Ahpra’s higher maximum penalties for advertising offences apply in every jurisdiction, Western Australia included.
  5. 1 October 2026Most of Victoria’s new property price rules start, and the Property Price Statement replaces the Statement of Information.
  6. 16 October 2026Victoria’s new requirements apply to auctions and fixed-date sales held on and from this day.
  7. Towards the end of 2026New NSW laws on underquoting and prices in property ads are expected to start.

Each date is set out with its rule in the guide for that industry.