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On 3 February 2022, the UK’s regulator of advertising across all media, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), published its research in harmful racial and ethnic stereotyping in UK advertising. The survey highlighted a number of important issues that participant consumers raised about the depiction of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Ads that are likely to cause serious or widespread offence and/or harm owing to particular portrayals of race and ethnicity have long been regulated under the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising (CAP Code) and the Code of Broadcast...

Ofcom has issued proposed guidance about how on-demand programme service (“ODPS”) providers should comply with new requirements concerning European works under Section 368CB of the Communications Act 2003 (“the Act”). The proposed guidance reflects changes to the regulatory framework, effective since 1 November 2020, and will replace Ofcom’s existing guidance on European works obligations for ODPS providers. The regulatory change arises from the UK’s transposition of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2018 (AVMSD) into UK law, pursuant to the...

On 14 January 2022, a high-profile libel trial began before Mrs Justice Steyn at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The British businessman Arron Banks sued investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr for libel. Mr. Banks is an outspoken backer of Brexit. Ms Cadwalladr is an award-winning journalist who writes for the Guardian and Observer in the United Kingdom. She is particularly known for her work in uncovering the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The case arose out of remarks in a Ted Technology Conference titled ‘Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threat to democracy’...

Midlands Asian Television (MATV) was held in breach of Rule 5.5 of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code by failing to ensure that their edition of Pakistan Reporter on the 8 February 2021 provided due impartiality. MATV is a satellite television service that boradcasts programming in Hindu, Urdu, English, Gujarati and Punjabi. The Licence for MATV is held by the Middlesex Broadcasting Corporation Limited. On the 8 February 2021 an edition of Pakistan Reporter, a current affairs and analysis progarmme about Pakistan, was broadcasted in Urdu on the subject of the Pakistan government's treatment...

Currently, Digital Culture Media and Sport Committee of the UK Parliament is undertaking an enquiry, which started in June 2021, into the influencer culture, including the radicalisation by some influencers. The enquiry is considering the power of influencers on social media, how influencer culture operates, and the absence of regulation on the promotion of products or services, aside from the existing policies of individual platforms. Research showed that more than three-quarters of influencers “buried their disclosures within their posts”. Also, the enquiry will assess...