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Mandate the Advertising Standards Authority to establish comprehensive digital advertising ecosystem guidelines for all actors.

Conclusion
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 Standards Authority to establish comprehensive guidelines for 59 all actors within the digital advertising ecosystem and supply chain. These should be informed by the UN’s 2024 Guiding Principles for Information Integrity and developed in consultation with civil society, academics, experts, industry and policymakers. It should be designed to remove incentives for algorithmic acceleration of harmful or misleading content whilst upholding freedom of expression; ensure advertisers can avoid harmful content; and ensure transparency in technologies with public safety implications, such as digital advertising. (Recommendation, Paragraph 99)
Government Response

A response document is linked to this report, dated 17 October 2025. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document.

Addressee Bodies
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Timeline
Recommendation age 1.2 yr
Report published 11 Jul 2025