In March 2022, the ASA announced a year-long Intermediary and Platform Principles pilot, which aimed to extend the ASA’s role online and explore bringing more accountability and transparency to the ASA’s regulation of paid online ads. The pilot began on 1 June 2022.

Working with IAB UK, the pilot revolved around six key Principles, which established broad objectives around awareness-raising, advertiser compliance and ASA enforcement online.

Participating companies, including Adform, Amazon Ads, Google, Index Exchange, Meta, Snap Inc, TikTok, Twitter and Yahoo, volunteered to provide information to the ASA to demonstrate how they operated in accordance with the Principles.

In December 2022, the ASA published an interim report on the pilot covering the initial four-month period (1 June to 30 September 2022). It showed that most participating companies had provided the relevant information suggesting that they were wholly or mainly fulfilling the Principles. The ASA says that a final report will be published in Autumn 2023.

The ASA says that by exploring ways to enhance transparency and accountability in online advertising regulation, the pilot will help the ASA, 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.

In the meantime, the ASA says that it, IAB UK and participating companies remain committed to upholding and supporting the Principles. As part of its commitment to transparency and accountability, the ASA and the IAB UK encourage feedback about any aspect of the pilot. To read the ASA’s press release in full and for information on how to provide feedback, click here.