Report for the UK Government into online advertising harms

The UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has published Spark Ninety's report exploring online advertising "harms", such as scams and non-identified social influencer ads, as well as market and regulatory developments.

The DCMS commissioned this report to feed into the Online Advertising Programme. We identified 15 categories of harmful advertising of which malicious and fraudulent or scam advertising are the most serious threats at present, based on an assessment of the incidence of these categories of harms and the severity of the impact caused to individuals or businesses affected. The total estimated loss from reports of fraud alone was £400 million.

Over the last two years, the landscape of harms has evolved. Complaints relating to social influencer advertising have increased, driven by strong growth in the amount of influencer marketing. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the incidence of harms has decreased in certain narrow areas where the industry has strengthened consumer protection measures, such as paid search advertising for investment scams.

Multiple factors contribute to the problem of harms, and these factors differ between categories of harm, supply chains (open display vs. owned and operated), and the organisations involved. Some factors contribute to the ease of harm happening in the first place, others contribute to limited detection and mitigation of harm after it has begun, and some limit the deterrent effect.

The report also explores online advertising trends, such as market growth and developments in retail media, in-game advertising, influencer marketing and cookie deprecation. It analyses international policy and regulatory developments, such as the European Union Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA).