Today, we have published an interim report, which provides opening observations on how participating companies have, to date, implemented the Intermediary and Platform Principles (IPP).
The role that platforms and intermediaries play in helping to support the ASA’s regulation online is not well-known or understood outside the regulatory system and the digital advertising industry. Accordingly, in a global-first collaboration with the IAB UK (a member body of the ASA’s sister organisation, the Committee of Advertising Practice) and a self-selecting group of some of the largest companies in the digital advertising supply chain, the ASA launched the IPP Pilot in June 2022 to bring more transparency to this cooperation and to explore the role of Principles, common to all these companies, in helping to promote advertisers’ awareness of and compliance with advertising standards online. The companies participating in the Pilot are: Adform, Amazon Ads, Google, Index Exchange, Magnite, Meta, Snap Inc., TikTok, Twitter and Yahoo. The Pilot will run for one year from 1 June 2022.
The IPP Pilot revolves around six Principles (supported by guidance) addressing ways in which participating companies can help to promote advertisers’ awareness of the rules as they impact on programmatic paid-for advertising and how they help the ASA to secure compliance in exceptional cases where it is determined that an advertiser is unwilling or unable to comply with the CAP Code and other available routes have failed. Under the Pilot arrangements, participating companies agree to volunteer information to the ASA to demonstrate how they operate in accordance with these Principles. Therefore, participating companies have provided information to the ASA that they wish to be taken into account, at the interim stage about what they do, or have done so far.
The report is an independent, aggregated progress report by the ASA on the implementation of the Principles by participating companies so far. The report covers the initial four-month period (1 June to 30 September 2022) of the Pilot, a shorter period than ideal, but the ASA and participating companies consider it is of interest and importance to stakeholders to publish interim findings before the end of 2022. The full report will provide a more complete reflection of how the Principles have helped achieve the Pilot goals during the full twelve-month period.
The majority of participating companies provided information which suggests that they are wholly or mainly fulfilling the Principles relevant to them so far. This view is based on the information provided to the ASA and, where applicable, the ASA’s own internal records with reference to the relevant guidance. The ASA notes the interim nature of the report, but considers that the information provided to date is encouraging, and, over the full twelve months of the Pilot, the ASA is optimistic it will see full implementation of all applicable Principles by the participating companies.
The ASA notes that the applicability and implementation of certain Principles can be limited by individual circumstances of participating companies, including their business models, and looks forward to considering the ways in which such factors may be addressed in the remainder of the Pilot.
The ASA will publish a final report in quarter three, 2023 reflecting on the full twelve months of the Pilot. The information gathered through the IPP Pilot will help the ASA, the industry, and other stakeholders to collectively consider whether and where further action could be taken to enhance the ASA’s ability to enforce the CAP Code online by working with the participating companies and other online intermediary businesses. In this way, the Pilot may serve to inform future policy thinking in this area.
More on
-
Keep up to date
Sign up to our rulings, newsletters and emargoed access for Press. Subscribe now.
