ASA given power to ban travel ads online
Travel companies advertising online will be placed under the scrutiny of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from next year.
The advertising watchdog is extending its powers to cover all online marketing and advertising from March 1.
At present, its powers only cover offline advertising, like print and television.
Under the new regime, the ASA will also have the power to ban false marketing statements on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter
But it will not extend to journalistic and editorial content related to causes and ideas.
Websites will be given until 1 March 2011 to comply with the new rules.
The expansion of the remit has been partly funded by a £200,000 donation from search engine giant Google.
ASA chairman Lord Chris Smith said: "We have received over 4,500 complaints since 2008 about marketing communications on websites that we couldn’t deal with, but from 1 March anyone who has a concern about a marketing communication online will be able to turn to the ASA."
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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