Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts (): The Online Advertising Taskforce is today publishing
its Progress Report for 2025, summarising work carried out since
publication of its last Progress Report covering 2023-24.
The Taskforce brings government and the advertising industry
together to help improve trust, transparency and accountability
in advertising. It specifically works to reduce harms, tackle
illegal advertising and minimise children being served
advertising for products and services illegal to sell to them.
Six industry-led working groups have continued to work across our
priority areas to improve the evidence, develop and enhance
voluntary initiatives or standards, and identify any gaps in
industry initiatives where they already exist. These groups have
membership from across the online advertising ecosystem,
including regulators and government, with working groups
covering; age assurance, the use of AI, influencer marketing,
information sharing to counter malvertising, the Internet
Advertising Bureau UK's Gold Standard, and principles for
intermediaries and platforms in their hosting of online adverts.
I chaired meetings of the Taskforce on 10 November 2025 and 26
February 2026, and commend the group for the progress they have
led across the online advertising ecosystem.
Specifically, I want to highlight progress to understand the
impact of AI in advertising, and welcome the publication of
Advertising Association's Best Practice Guide for the
Responsible Use of Generative AI in Advertising(opens in a new
tab), which was developed under the auspices of the
Taskforce's AI Working Group and is now being adopted across the
sector. Similarly, the Influencer Marketing Working Group has
driven adoption of the Influencer Marketing Code of
Conduct(opens in a new tab)which the Taskforce estimates to
now cover over 50% of the relevant market. I also welcome
indicative findings from the Taskforce's Age Assurance Working
Group that online and platform targeting tools are largely
effective in ensuring children are not served adverts for
age-restricted products. Finally, the Information Sharing Working
Group has made significant progress in removing barriers to cross
platform information sharing on malvertising, with a live pilot
already allowing real time information sharing between trusted
partners. Further details of the focus and achievements of
working groups are set out in the Progress Report(opens in a new
tab).
While I warmly welcome this progress, there remains significant
work to do. The continued work of the Taskforce and its working
groups is vital for understanding and addressing issues in the
online advertising sector, and the Progress Report published
today presents a forward plan for 2026.
As part of that, I am keen to ensure that the Taskforce increases
focus on transparency in the online advertising ecosystem, with
particular work to tackle fraudulent advertising. In response to
this renewed focus, the Taskforce has agreed to stand-up a new Ad
Fraud and Standards Working Group to focus specifically on issues
of fraud, scams and malvertising in online advertising. This
group will be co-chaired by government and the Internet
Advertising Bureau UK, and will report back to Ministers in 2027.
The Progress Report is published on GOV.UK today and I will place
a copy of the report in the Libraries of both Houses.
