Platforms, intermediaries, and other publishers in the supply chain within scope.

What's the development?

The UK government has announced legislation for a new regulatory framework to tackle illegal advertising and increase the protection of under-18s online, in its July 2023 response to the consultation on the Online Advertising Programme (OAP). 

The OAP was introduced in March 2022 to build a regulatory framework which protects the public online, particularly under-18s, from bad actors engaged in online advertising fraud, illegal content, and illegal adverts. 

The OAP is designed to complement other digital regulation reforms like the Online Safety Bill, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, and the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. 

The OAP consultation was launched with the intention of reviewing the existing regulatory framework of paid-for online advertising and considering how the government could build on this framework. 

Who?

The new legislation under the OAP will address paid-for content only and provisions will apply to platforms, intermediaries, and other publishers in the supply chain (PIPs). The government has explained that the definition of "intermediaries" will be broad and will include influencers, although the exact scope of the legislation is yet to be detailed and will be subject to a further consultation. 

The legislation will not apply to owned media spaces (eg brands' own websites) as the government wishes to focus on spaces where illegal advertising will cause the most harm. It will also not apply to user-generated content or advertisements of high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) products as these are covered by other regulations. 

Advertisers will also be excluded from the legislative reforms, as they are already held to account under the existing self-regulatory regime and applicable backstops.

What? 

Despite calls for the OAP to take action against a broad range of harms, such as misinformation or greenwashing, the government responded that it would focus on the most concerning harms linked to illegal online advertising, as indicated by data. The legislative focus of the OAP will therefore be on two broad categories: 

• harms arising from illegal online advertising, eg fraud, scams, malware

• protecting children and young people from products and services that are illegal to be sold to them, eg alcohol, gambling, and vapes. 

These categories will collectively combat the content of adverts as well as the targeting or placement of adverts. 

How? 

To tackle illegal advertising content, PIPs will be responsible for proactively putting in place systems and processes which will protect users from encountering illegal and harmful content. This may include preventing criminals from accessing the online advert supply chain, detecting unlawful adverts quickly and efficiently, and sharing information about suspicious activity with regulators. 

To protect children and young people, PIPs will similarly have to put in place proportionate systems and processes so that under-18s are shielded from adverts for products and services which are illegal for under-18s. Such processes would likely include swift detection and mitigation, and information-sharing with regulators. 

Next steps 

Draft legislation will be put forward when parliamentary time allows, but further consultation will take place on the details of the reform before it becomes law in the UK. 

In the meantime, the government has formed a ministerial-led Online Advertising Taskforce to support the aims of the OAP by improving the evidence of the scale and threat of the OAP harms and identifying ways of strengthening the voluntary industry initiatives to tackle those harms.