Restricted Categories

The /v1/compliance/check-image endpoint detects image content belonging to six advertising-restricted categories and emits a dedicated compliance check for each match. Each check carries jurisdiction-aware regulatory citations and platform-policy references filtered to the request scope.

When a check fires

The image is analyzed for recognizable objects/scenes. When a detected label maps to a restricted category (case-insensitive exact-word match against the category’s matchLabels), a Restricted Category: {categoryName} check is emitted. Aggregation rules:

Multiple detected labels matching the same category → one check, using the highest-confidence label in the interpolated message
Detected labels below 50% confidence are ignored (most signal noise lives below this threshold)
Match is exact-word and case-insensitive: "alcohol" matches "Alcohol" and "alcohol " but does NOT match "non-alcoholic"

The six categories

Category	Severity	Status	Sample match labels
Alcohol & spirits	`high`	`block`	alcohol, wine, beer, whiskey, spirits, champagne, cocktail, vodka, rum, liquor
Weapons & firearms	`high`	`block`	firearm, weapon, gun, rifle, pistol, ammunition, bullet, knife
Tobacco & smoking products	`high`	`block`	tobacco, cigarette, cigar, vape, e-cigarette, smoking, smoker
Gambling	`high`	`block`	casino, gambling, slot machine, poker chip, roulette, lottery, betting
Pharmaceutical & prescription drugs	`medium`	`flag`	medicine, pill, pharmacy, drug, pharmaceutical, prescription, capsule
Financial products (incl. crypto, forex, investments)	`medium`	`flag`	bitcoin, cryptocurrency, currency, investment, trading, stock market, forex, banking, loan, crypto, coin

high-severity categories produce a hard block decision. medium-severity categories produce a flag (review required) — typically for regulated content that’s allowed with substantiation and disclosure.

Citations per category

Each category carries per-jurisdiction citations (US / EU / UK / China / India) and per-platform citations (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube). Only those matching the request scope are included on the emitted check.

Alcohol & spirits

Scope	Citations
us	27 U.S.C. § 213 (Federal Alcohol Administration Act); FTC alcohol self-regulation guides; state alcohol-board rules (e.g. California ABC, NY SLA)
eu	EU AVMSD Art. 9 (commercial communications for alcoholic beverages); EU Council Recommendation 2001/458/EC
uk	UK CAP Code Section 18 (Alcohol); ASA enforcement
china	China Advertising Law Art. 23 (alcohol); SAMR enforcement
india	India Cable Television Networks Rules Rule 7(2)(viii); Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 (surrogate-advertising provisions)
facebook / instagram	Meta Advertising Standards — Alcohol
tiktok	TikTok Advertising Policies — Alcohol
youtube	Google Ads Policies — Alcohol

Weapons & firearms

Scope	Citations
us	ATF firearms-advertising regulations; state firearms-marketing statutes
eu	EU member-state firearms-advertising restrictions
uk	UK Firearms Act 1968; CAP Code Rule 11 (Distance Selling)
china	China Firearms Control Law Art. 5
india	India Arms Act 1959
facebook / instagram	Meta Advertising Standards — Weapons, ammunition & explosives
tiktok	TikTok Advertising Policies — Weapons & explosives
youtube	Google Ads Policies — Dangerous products or services

Tobacco & smoking products

Scope	Citations
us	Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA); FDA tobacco advertising rules; state tobacco-control laws
eu	EU Tobacco Advertising Directive 2003/33/EC; TPD 2014/40/EU
uk	UK Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002
china	China Advertising Law Art. 22 (tobacco advertising ban)
india	India COTPA 2003 (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act)
facebook / instagram	Meta Advertising Standards — Tobacco & related products
tiktok	TikTok Advertising Policies — Tobacco products
youtube	Google Ads Policies — Tobacco

Gambling

Scope	Citations
us	State gaming-commission rules (NJ DGE, NV GCB, etc.); Wire Act; UIGEA
eu	EU member-state gambling regulators (French ANJ, Spanish DGOJ, etc.); EU Commission gambling recommendations
uk	UK Gambling Act 2005; CAP Code Section 16; Gambling Commission rules
china	China Criminal Law Art. 303 (gambling prohibition)
india	India Public Gambling Act 1867; state lottery laws
facebook / instagram	Meta Advertising Standards — Online gambling & gaming
tiktok	TikTok Advertising Policies — Gambling
youtube	Google Ads Policies — Gambling and games

Pharmaceutical & prescription drugs

Scope	Citations
us	FDA prescription-drug advertising rules (21 CFR § 202); FTC self-regulation for OTC drugs
eu	EU Directive 2001/83/EC Art. 86–100 (medicinal-product advertising); EMA guidelines
uk	UK Human Medicines Regulations 2012 Part 14; PMCPA Code of Practice
china	China Advertising Law Art. 15–18 (medical advertising); SAMR enforcement
india	India Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954
facebook / instagram	Meta Advertising Standards — Online pharmacies
tiktok	TikTok Advertising Policies — Drugs, drug-related products
youtube	Google Ads Policies — Healthcare and medicines

Financial products (incl. crypto, forex, investments)

Scope	Citations
us	SEC marketing rule (Rule 206(4)-1); FINRA Rule 2210 (communications with the public); CFTC commodity-advertising rules; state Blue Sky laws
eu	EU MiFID II; ESMA marketing-communications guidelines; MiCA crypto-asset-markets marketing rules
uk	UK FCA Financial Promotion regime (FSMA s.21); FCA crypto-promotion rules (PS23/6)
china	China Advertising Law Art. 25 (financial-product advertising); PBOC and CBIRC rules
india	India SEBI Investment Adviser Regulations; RBI advertising guidelines
facebook / instagram	Meta Advertising Standards — Financial products & services
tiktok	TikTok Advertising Policies — Financial services
youtube	Google Ads Policies — Financial products & services

Example response check

When an image of a wine bottle is checked with jurisdictions: ["us", "uk"] and platforms: ["facebook", "tiktok"]:

{
  "id": "chk_87bdd543",
  "agentId": "rights-clearance-image",
  "checkName": "Restricted Category: Alcohol & spirits",
  "status": "block",
  "severity": "high",
  "message": "Image depicts Alcohol & spirits (detected label: liquor, 94% confidence). Restricted advertising category — alcohol marketing requires age-gating, jurisdictional licensing, and specific disclaimer language.",
  "recommendation": "Block publication or obtain explicit clearance for alcohol & spirits advertising under the cited regulations and platform policies.",
  "citation": "27 U.S.C. § 213 (Federal Alcohol Administration Act); FTC alcohol self-regulation guides; state alcohol-board rules (e.g. California ABC, NY SLA); UK CAP Code Section 18 (Alcohol); ASA enforcement; Meta Advertising Standards — Alcohol; TikTok Advertising Policies — Alcohol",
  "jurisdictions": ["us", "uk"],
  "platforms": ["facebook", "tiktok"]
}

The message interpolates {{category}} (categoryName), {{label}} (the highest-confidence matched label, lower-cased), and {{confidence}} (integer 0–100).

Notes on extensibility

The category list, match labels, severity, message template, and citation maps are admin-tunable in real time — stored in Azure Storage and edited without a code deploy. Changes propagate within 60 seconds via a cached loader. Contact your account team to request:

New categories specific to your industry (e.g. supplements, CBD, political content)
Adjustments to the match-label list for an existing category
Per-tenant severity overrides

If the Azure-managed table is unreachable for any reason, the runtime falls back to the in-repo manifest (currently the 6 categories above), so image checks never break on a transient outage.

Image Rights Clearance — the parent endpoint and full check catalog
Interpreting Reports — how decision, score, and severity interact
Tenant Onboarding and Scoping — how jurisdictions and platforms filter the citation set

​Restricted Categories

​When a check fires

​The six categories

​Citations per category

​Alcohol & spirits

​Weapons & firearms

​Tobacco & smoking products

​Gambling

​Pharmaceutical & prescription drugs

​Financial products (incl. crypto, forex, investments)

​Example response check

​Notes on extensibility

​Related