Government pauses Online Safety Bill

With the Government pausing the Online Safety Bill until the autumn - once a new Prime Minister is in place - Christie Dennehy-Neil, our Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs has shared the IAB’s view: “Following the news that the next Parliamentary stage of the Online Safety Bill has been delayed, we at IAB UK are continuing to urge the Government to remove fraudulent advertising from the scope of the Bill on the basis that it is already set to be comprehensively addressed as part of the Online Advertising Programme. 

“From the outset we have argued that duplicating the focus on scam ads across both programmes creates unnecessary regulatory fragmentation and risks constraining proper policy development. Scam ads should be tackled in a direct, targeted way through the OAP and in tandem with law enforcement. We will be continuing to push for this outcome once the new leader of the Conservative Party is in place and we have more clarity on the future of the Online Safety Bill.”

The Government announced that scam ads would be included in the scope of the Online Safety Bill in March 2022, at the same time as the Online Advertising Programme consultation launched. Find out more about the Online Safety Bill and the Online Advertising Programme.