ASA to be given new powers over brands’ websites from March next year

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will be given new powers starting from 1 March next year.

The ASA will have the authority to regulate brands’ websites and free online spaces such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

At the moment, the ASA only has power over paid-for adverts or sales promotions.

This means it has not been able to react to any complaints previously made about online messages on sites such as Facebook.

The new powers granted in March will allow the ASA to ensure that the information given on brands’ websites or social networking services must adhere to the same rules as paid advertisements.

Any advertiser that does not follow the ASA regulations will be “named and shamed” by the authority. They also run the risk of having their paid-of search advertising removed.

The ASA’s new powers will exclude editorial content, to protect freedom of speech.

Funding will be through a 0.1% levy on search ads booked through media and search agencies, and will be initially supplemented by seed capital from Google.

ASA chairman, Lord Smith, said: “This remit has the protection of children and consumers at its heart. We have received over 4,500 complaints since 2008 about marketing communications on websites that we could not deal with.”