ASA & CAP's focus on AI influencer ad disclosures

The question

What top tips can be taken from the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) in their recent Annual Report for 2024 and report on Influencer Ad Disclosure on Social Media (Influencer Report)?

The key takeaway

As the ASA and CAP continue in their quest to become preventative, proactive regulators, it is imperative that advertisers avoid falling foul of rules around misleading, harmful and offensive content. With their growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and an increasing presence in the social media space, it is also crucial that brands and platforms ensure that ads, even for "own brand" content, are clearly and adequately disclosed in order to satisfy the ever-growing gaze of the regulators.

The background

The Annual Report for 2024 demonstrates the ASA and CAP's commitment to becoming preventative and proactive self-regulators, with 60% of the bodies' activity now falling into this category of work (already exceeding their target for 2028).

CAP delivered over 777,000 pieces of advice and training in an effort to curtail advertising malpractice last year. In supporting this proactive limb, the ASA successfully reviewed 28 million ads in 2024 through use of its AI-based Active Ad Monitoring System, equating to a tenfold increase on 2023 and amounting to three times its target (see our Summer 2024 edition of Snapshots).

The ASA also leveraged its technological capabilities to produce its 2024 Influencer Report (published in May 2025), reviewing over 50,000 posts across Instagram and TikTok comprising content from a representative sample of UK-based influencer accounts.

The development

The Annual Report emphasises the shift in the approach to advertising taken by regulators. 94% of the nearly 34,000 ads amended or withdrawn by the ASA last year were picked up by the Active Ad Monitoring system, highlighting an increasing transition from reactive to proactive governance. Moreover, 84% of ads amended or withdrawn represented non-paid posts from brands' own websites and social media accounts, signalling an increased need for companies to apply equal stringency to their own content as to more traditional forms of advertising.

With one quarter of content on Instagram deemed to comprise advertising content (one sixth on TikTok), social media is firmly established as a target area for regulators. Despite a positive trajectory since its 2021 Influencer monitoring report, in the latest Influencer Report, the ASA found significant room for improvement in this space, with only 57% of reviewed ads found to have been adequately disclosed under the CAP Code, meaning that the ads were "obviously identifiable as ads". The ASA identified a number of key offenders in the fashion, travel and technology sectors, in which more than 50% of reviewed ads were either undisclosed or not adequately disclosed.

Why is this important?

Regulators are no longer reliant on conscientious observers to report non-compliant ads and marketing materials in order to take action. As use of AI-assistive technologies increases across the board, brands must take comparatively proactive approaches to their own compliance, ensuring their ads are clear, disclosed, and free of misleading, harmful or offensive material.

Businesses, brands, influencers and platforms should also actively manage their own posts whether they be paid or unpaid, on their own websites or social media accounts.

Any practical tips?

• Make use of the available guidance. The ASA and CAP regularly produce training and materials designed to guide companies on producing compliant ads. It's there for a reason.
• Be proactive: A proactive regulator urges a proactive advertiser. Ensure ads adhere to the latest rules and guidance before they are posted, especially for posts on social media and companies' own websites.
• Social media: Make sure ads are adequately disclosed (including by monitoring the activity of influencers you work with).