Online Advertising Regulation addresses concerns about digital advertising practices, transparency, and consumer protection, led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport through the Online Advertising Taskforce. The policy is active with progress reports in 2025 and draft regulations under the Online Safety Act 2023 targeting qualifying worldwide revenue thresholds for platforms.
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Advertising is crucial to major social media companies, which depend on recommending engaging content to increase time spent on their platforms and draw attention to adverts. Their recommendation algorithms do not effectively differentiate between harmless and harmful engaging content, which …
The global digital advertising market is overcomplicated, opaque and under-regulated, operating through an enormous, automated and inaccessible supply chain. This directly leads to the production, viral spread and monetisation of harmful and deceptive content, often without advertisers’ knowledge. P
There is a regulatory gap around digital advertising, as much of the regulation and interventions have been industry-led and focused on tackling harmful advertising content, as opposed to the monetisation of harmful content through advertising. We are not convinced that …
Tackling online harm means addressing the principles that incentivise and monetise its spread. In line with Principle 3, responsibility, the government should create a new arms-length body—not funded by industry—to regulate and scrutinise the process of digital advertising, covering the …
To tackle the incentive behind amplified misinformation—namely, the monetisation of harmful content—there should be clear and enforceable standards for digital advertising market processes, as well as advertising content. Following our Principles 1, 3 and 5, government should ask the Advertising …
The internet, and social media, could not operate without digital advertising. Given its implications for public safety, as per Principle 5, there needs to be heightened transparency in the market processes of online advertising. Government should mandate ‘Know Your Customer’ …
There are insufficient disincentives for bad practice in the digital advertising market. Bad actors can exploit the ecosystem, monetising harmful content through major platforms. Following Principle 3, Ofcom should be empowered to give penalty notices to platforms when they allow …
We support the proposed introduction of enhanced online gambling protections for young adults aged 18–24. The Government, Gambling Commission, and gambling operators must ensure these measures do not unintentionally lead to more adults in this age group giving a higher …
We welcome the Government’s recently articulated intention to introduce statutory regulation for online advertising, in line with our conclusions and recommendations from our “Influencer culture” inquiry last year. We recommend that the Government respond to the evidence we have gathered …
Digital technology is allowing more parties, campaigners, and voters than ever to participate in political debate. While we view this as a positive step for democracy, we must recognise that it has created a more complex regulatory environment for the …
The responsibilities of multiple regulators in the digital space interlock with the Electoral Commission’s role to regulate money spent on political campaigning. The Government’s draft Strategy and Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission encourages cooperation between regulators to avoid dupli
We agree with the Electoral Commission that each of the four governments of the UK should amend the rules for reporting spending to provide greater transparency on the money being spent on digital campaigns in their jurisdictions. There should be …
We recommend that the remit of the CAP code be extended by removing the requirement for editorial ‘control’ to determine whether content constitutes an advertisement. Type: recommendation | Number: 69 | Response status: under_consideration Government response: 1. The ASA system …
We recommend that the ASA be given statutory powers to enforce the CAP Code. These powers should be considered as part of the Government’s upcoming Online Advertising Programme. Appropriate funding arrangements should also be considered to ensure that the ASA …
We recommend that the CMA report to our Committee on the progress, costs, and results of their 2020 Facebook Ireland Ltd. undertakings. In doing so they should also provide updates on their progress securing undertakings from other social media platforms. …
Our predecessor Petitions Committee’s report concluded that self-regulation of social media had failed. Despite the user safety tools and innovations platforms have introduced since then, these companies have continued to place insufficient priority on user safety to protect users from …
It is very disappointing to see that despite the numerous representations made to the Government, measures to address fraud via online advertising have not been included in the draft Online Safety Bill. This is a missed opportunity to act and …
We note the Government’s intention to consider additional legislative and non- legislative solutions to tackle fraud via advertising, emails or cloned websites, including the online advertising programme, but we believe quicker action is required to protect consumers and help the …
We recommend that the Government should include measures to address fraud via online advertising in the Online Safety Bill, in the interests of preventing further harm to customers being offered fraudulent financial products. Type: recommendation | Number: 37 | Paragraph: …
Pending any legislative changes, the FCA should continue to work with online platforms such as Google to remove misleading and fraudulent adverts as quickly as possible, to protect customers from scams. (Paragraph 193) The Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulation of London …
Despite the number of controls in place on social media platforms, users continuously experience content that, by the platforms’ own admission, shouldn’t be accessible. We 44 Changing the perfect picture: an inquiry into body image recommend that the Government should …