Britain’s advertising watchdog is poised to sift through a record-breaking number of online ads this year with its new artificial intelligence (AI) powered monitoring system as it tries to keep pace with swathes of ads on social media.
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) used its Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to sweep the internet and social media and return intelligence on potential breaches of its code, to process three million ads in 2023.
It has projected this figure to reach over 10m in 2024, it said in its annual report released on Thursday.
After embedding the active monitoring system into its strategy in 2023, the regulator is now heavily reliant on it to detect irresponsible adverts that break its rules.
Increasingly, it is being used to detect “irresponsible” adverts for vapes, gambling, cosmetic surgery procedures abroad and inaccurate climate change claims.
“We’re continuing to develop the system in 2024, incorporating more data, expanding the set of topics it covers, and integrating it further into the way we work,” the ASA said.
The technology is always checked by humans and is only there to help enhance their work and make their lives easier.
It has helped the watchdog scale up its activities in order to keep pace with the sheer amount of ad content online and on social media, that would be impossible – or at least very difficult within a short time frame, it said.
It comes as online ad spending is performing strongly. In January, IPA Bellwether found that ad spend surpassed forecasts in the third quarter of 2023, driven by the success of search and online display, including social media.
And the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) has predicted a continued increase in ad spend in 2024, fuelled by upcoming events like the UEFA European Football Championship, the Paris Olympics, and elections.
“Our investment in data science and AI is equipping us with the tools to deliver more effective ad regulation,” said Guy Parker, ASA chief executive.
He added: “It supports the work of our expert teams and is increasingly core to our monitoring and enforcement activities through the intelligence it gives us and that we can act on.
“It helps us to remain flexible and adapt quickly to safeguard the interests of consumers and citizens, especially the young and vulnerable, in the rapidly changing digital landscape.
“And we continue to focus on our proactive work, across media as well as online, to prevent irresponsible ads appearing in the first place.”
In its report, the regulator also reported that it received over 39,000 complaints last year, up 16 per cent from 2022, about more than 25,000 ads.
This did not beat 2021 though, when it received a record 43,325 complaints.
Online advertising and television advertising were the top two most complained about forms of media, rising 14 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively.
Some 27,378 ads were amended or withdrawn in 2023 as a result of the ASA’s intervention.