Britain's advertising watchdog has warned social media companies, including Google and Meta, that they are failing to adequately protect users from misleading and potentially harmful health advertisements. Guy Parker, chief executive of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), stated that online advertising has "amplified harms" and urged the platforms to increase their efforts in preventing dangerous health claims from reaching consumers.
The ASA's recent monitoring revealed widespread concerns regarding advertisements for a range of products, from baby sleep devices and menopause supplements to hair-loss treatments and injectable peptides. Parker noted a rise in ads for home health test kits, testosterone, and prostate testing, as well as supplements claiming to treat conditions like menopause and autism.
While acknowledging the growth of the health and wellbeing sector, Parker cautioned that "new frontiers are opening up, new trends are emerging, and with them potential ad-related harms." He emphasized that "the reality is too many products aren't being advertised responsibly."
Over a four-week period this summer, the ASA's monitoring system identified 309,000 health-related paid advertisements across Google, Meta, TikTok, and other websites. Of these, more than 30,000 ads fell into seven specific areas of concern, where the risk of misleading advertising to consumers is particularly high. These categories included baby colic and reflux products, mushroom supplements, women's hormonal health, fertility and menopause products, magnesium supplements, men's hormonal health, hair-loss treatments, and research peptides.
An assessment of approximately 600 of these high-risk ads found that in every category, at least nine out of ten were rated as medium or high compliance risk. High-risk ads demonstrated a clear breach of advertising rules and posed potential harm to health or safety, while medium-risk ads were likely to breach rules and required further investigation.
The most serious concerns were identified in advertisements for products marketed to parents of infants. In the baby colic and reflux category, 59 percent of assessed ads were rated high risk. Over half of these were for sleep or elevation devices promoted for reflux, colic, or sleep issues. Jessica Tye, the ASA's regulatory projects manager, noted that these ads often contradicted established safe sleep advice, potentially influencing exhausted and worried parents. The ASA has prioritized baby sleep products for further action due to the risk of physical harm, including death.
This warning coincided with a Product Safety Alert issued by the Office for Product Safety and Standards regarding certain baby sleeping bags that pose risks of suffocation, overheating, serious injury, or death. The safety regulator noted nearly 50 recalls or safety reports for dangerous baby sleeping bags in the UK since 2023.
Further concerns were raised about mushroom supplements, with 53 percent of assessed ads rated high risk. Some of these ads targeted individuals with serious lung conditions like COPD and asthma, suggesting supplements could repair lung damage or allowing smokers to continue smoking. Advertisements were also found targeting individuals with multiple sclerosis or recovering from a stroke, implying that established medical treatments were insufficient.
In the women's hormonal health, fertility, and menopause category, 83 percent of assessed ads were rated medium risk. The ASA reported that some supplements made medicinal claims about PMS or menopause symptoms, exploiting feelings of dismissal by medical professionals.
Parker stated that while social media firms have policies and cooperate in removing problematic content, the ASA continues to find significant issues. He stressed the need for closer collaboration with platforms to strengthen preventative measures and improve transparency on their effectiveness. Tye added that while AI-powered monitoring and enforcement remain crucial, the goal is to identify problems earlier and work with industry and other regulators to prevent such ads from appearing in the first place. Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, commented that social media has "trivialized these treatments," creating a haven for unscrupulous providers in the non-surgical aesthetic sector.