The ASA explains that under the title of “Intermediary and Platform Principles”, the pilot will explore formalising and bringing more accountability and transparency to the role that digital advertising companies play in helping to uphold the UK’s system of advertising regulation.

The initiative is the result of collaboration between the ASA and members of IAB UK, including Adform, Amazon Ads, Google, Index Exchange, Meta, TikTok, Twitter and Yahoo. It will pilot a set of principles governing how participating companies raise advertisers’ awareness of the rules that apply to their online ads and help the ASA to secure compliance in cases when the advertiser appears unwilling or is unable to comply with the rules. The pilot will run for one year from June 2022.

As part of the pilot, participating companies, including online platforms, demand-side platforms and supply-side platforms, voluntarily agree to provide information to the ASA to demonstrate how they operate in accordance with the pilot’s principles. The ASA will use this information, and other intelligence collected throughout the reporting period, to publish an aggregated interim report and a final report. This will provide an independent account of how companies have performed against the principles, on the understanding that different companies can meet the principles in different ways, to identify examples of good practice, as well as areas where there is room for improvement.

The information gathered will provide valuable evidence to help the ASA, the industry and other stakeholders collectively consider whether and where gaps exist in the ASA’s ability to enforce the CAP Code online, and how they can be effectively addressed. To read the ASA’s announcement in full and for links to further information, click here.