Advertising and marketing | UK Regulatory Outlook March 2026

Online Advertising Taskforce: 2025 progress update and 2026 objectives 

The UK government has published a progress update on the Online Advertising Taskforce's work in 2025 and its objectives for 2026, covering the activities and plans of its working groups: 

• Age assurance: this working group aims to improve age assurance standards to reduce children's exposure to advertising for age-restricted products. It conducted a pilot with multiple brands and platforms to assess the effectiveness of ad targeting practices, and commissioned research to measure ad targeting accuracy across participating brands' campaigns in November and December 2025. The initial findings provided proof of concept for how ad targeting compliance can be monitored, and the group is considering how this may serve as a baseline for future work.
• AI: chaired by the Advertising Association (AA), this group explores AI's effect on trust, transparency and accountability in advertising content and placement. Its key achievement was the development of a Best Practice Guide for the Responsible Use of Generative AI in Advertising (see this Regulatory Outlook for more information), and its focus for 2026 is to maximise the guide's visibility and uptake. The group also considered issues around AI labelling in advertising.
• The Gold Standard: chaired by IAB UK, the group promotes awareness and uptake of IAB UK's Gold Standard, a certification scheme designed to address challenges in the online advertising ecosystem (including ad fraud, transparency and business trust in online ads). A new specification, launched in January 2025, expanded its scope to emerging advertising channels such as retail media and connected TV, and introduced a sustainability pillar. The group will conclude its taskforce activities, transitioning into a new ad fraud and standards working group co-chaired by IAB UK and government.
• The Influencer Marketing: chaired by ISBA, this group was set up to improve standards for incorporation into the Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct. In 2026, it plans to work with platforms to coordinate campaigns by content creators to promote the code and educate them on its provisions.
• The Information Sharing: chaired by the AA, this group examines barriers to sharing intelligence on malvertising (when malware is inserted into online ads) in the advertising ecosystem and developed a pilot for sharing online fraudulent ad signals.
• The Intermediary and Platform Principles (IPP): chaired by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), this group focuses on implementing a full-scale IPP framework to support platforms in promoting and enforcing the CAP Code. The aim for 2026 is to achieve industry and ASA agreement on the principles, with a full framework launch expected from summer 2026.
• The Ad Fraud and Standards: established in November 2025, this group focuses on ensuring industry understanding of existing transparency mechanisms that help minimise malicious advertising in the legitimate online advertising supply chain, and on identifying gaps to strengthen their efficacy or adoption. 

CAP publishes advice note on advertising in-game purchases such as loot boxes 

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has issued a short guidance note on the advertising of games containing loot boxes, which are in-game purchases involving an element of chance where the consumer does not know what they will receive until the transaction is completed. CAP references its guidance on advertising in-game purchases (reviewed in April 2025). 

It states that to be in scope of CAP Code rules, loot boxes must be able to be purchased with real money or virtual currency that can only be obtained by purchasing. Ads for games containing such loot boxes are subject to the CAP Code when they appear in in-scope media, including app store listings targeting UK consumers regardless of the advertiser's location. CAP states that the presence of loot boxes is material information for consumers, particularly those with specific vulnerabilities. 

The ASA has ruled that app store listings for games containing loot boxes must clearly and prominently state this, for example using a phrase such as "Includes random-item purchases" or "Contains loot boxes." A disclosure buried within an expandable "About this game" section (or similar) or further down a game description is unlikely to be sufficient. The ASA also did not consider generic "Offers In-App Purchases" labels offered by app stores, or references to products within an itemised list of in-game purchases, to be sufficient. The same disclosure requirements apply to ads on other platforms. 

Seven social media influencers fined for issuing unauthorised financial promotions  

Seven social media influencers have pleaded guilty to, and received fines for, issuing unauthorised financial promotions. Communicating unauthorised financial promotions is an offence under Sections 21 and 25 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, punishable by a fine and/or up to two years' imprisonment. The UK Financial Conduct Authority has previously published guidance on financial promotions on social media, setting out its expectations for firms and influencers in this area.