UK advertising regulator’s annual review indicates its priorities for 2025

The UK’s advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), recently published its 2024 Annual Report (here). This demonstrates an increased focus on the use of AI-based technology to identify potentially non-compliant ads, as part of its “transformation into a preventative and proactive regulator”. As in recent years, key areas of focus continue to be ‘green claims’ and protecting children and vulnerable consumers from exposure to advertising for age-restricted advertising. 

In-depth

On 29 April 2025, the ASA and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which write and administer the rules on advertising in the UK, released their 2024 Annual Report.

Enhancing Ad Monitoring with AI

The report, which comes at the end of the first year of the ASA’s five-year strategy on ‘AI-assisted, collective ad regulation ', reflects on the success of the ASA’s AI-based 'Active Ad Monitoring ’ system. In 2024, this system analysed 28 million ads, and has been particularly used by the ASA in its ‘high-priority projects’, including influencer marketing, ads relating to vaping and financial services advertising.

The system incorporates Large Language Models to expedite content review, the output of which is assisting in its enforcement action. Almost 15% of the ASA’s formal rulings in 2024 resulted from Active Ad Monitoring analysis. According to the report, 59% of the ASA’s casework last year was preventative/proactive, supported by this tool, rather than based on responding to reported complaints in the traditional way.

Ensuring green claims remain responsible 

The ASA reports that businesses have become more compliant in their ESG-related claims in 2024, particularly in the aviation industry (following several rulings), as well as in the green waste disposal, meat, dairy and plant-based substitute sectors. The ASA continues to closely monitor green claims, including through monthly sweeps. 

Protecting children from age-restricted ads

Protecting children from exposure to ads for age-restricted products continues to be a key area of focus of the ASA. The ASA has noted minimal exposure to children of age-restricted ads including ads for alcohol, gambling, weight-loss products, e-cigarettes and high fat, salt and sugar food products. A study of monitored age-restricted media identified 0.16% of such ads being presented to a child or age-neutral avatar, with 0.06% of these presented to a child avatar. 

In 2025, the ASA intends to publish the results of a project on in-app ads that objectify women, and to continue its enforcement work against the promotion of e-cigarette products on social media. It will also consider tightening gambling advertising rules. 

Protecting vulnerable consumers

In 2024, the ASA investigated misleading claims in the health, loans and heating sectors in order to protect vulnerable consumers. These included complaints concerning ads for:

• rehabilitation clinic referral services;
• supplements claiming to treat specific conditions or symptoms;
• loans from credit unions that encourage consumers to borrow beyond their means; and
• electric heaters which overstating their energy saving benefits compared to traditional heating methods. 

The ASA says that, in 2025, it will consider the effect of interventions to protect the vulnerable and look to identity new and emerging areas of concern. 

We expect continued close scrutiny of claims that target and have the potential to mislead vulnerable consumers, following the entry into force of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 last month (on which, see further here).