Advertisers can and must play a key role in ensuring they promote online safety and defund misinformation and fake news, writes Newsworks digital manager Sam Hudson
For me, one of the most important sessions at this year’s LEAD conference was Ofcom’s chair Sir Michael Grade’s address about the implementation of the Online Safety Act.
And this line from his talk really stood out to me:
If you are a marketer with money to spend online; or if you are an agency planning and buying on behalf of clients; my message to you is this: online safety is happening now, and you have a chance to play your part – by getting ahead of the harm.
The Online Safety Act received Royal Assent at the end of October 2023. This places Ofcom in charge of enforcing a raft of requirements placed on tech companies to ensure that they promote online safety. Specifically, by tackling illegal material and content that is harmful to children.
While this act has not yet been tested, Ofcom now has the power to enforce these new rules with hefty fines of up to 10% of the company’s global annual turnover (this would equal $470 million for X.com in 2023) or even criminal action against companies and/or senior managers who fail to comply with regulations.
Apart from the moral obligation on all of us to improve online safety, Grade’s address stood out to me because of two pieces of research that Newsworks conducted in 2023 – Fact not Fake, and our Trust Report. Both highlighted in clear detail the impact of fake news and questionable content not only on consumers and society, but also on advertisers.
Of particular note is the way in which advertisers who appear within trusted environments are perceived as opposed to when they appear in untrusted spaces. For instance, the perceived quality of brands goes up by 1.6x when they appear in a news brand. Or, more importantly for advertisers, brands who used news brands in their advertising mix experienced a profit growth uplift of 88% versus those who didn’t (between 2018 and 2022). Effectiveness expert Peter Field puts it best when he says:
In the era of ‘fake news’, consumer confidence has been shaken in all manner of institutions including brands and their advertising. Even honest advertising can sit uncomfortably alongside questionable content and some of the fakery can rub off on the brand. By the same token, advertising alongside trusted content from bona fide news organisations can enhance the trust in the brand.
Interestingly, around the same time as LEAD I noticed a big upswing in the amount of people coming to the Newsworks website seeking out our Fact not Fake research. While we published this work nearly a year ago it was hugely encouraging to see it still resonating. To me that is a clear sign that the issues around online safety, being in trusted environments and being aware of misinformation and harmful content are still front and centre in the minds of our core audience, namely media agencies.
I find that hugely reassuring.
Why?
Because it is on all of us to ensure the internet is as safe as possible for everyone to enjoy. And our industry must play its part. As Grade said: “For brands and agencies, this is about making trust and safety a priority.”
Of course, that is exactly the right thing to do, because it is good for individuals and society as a whole.
But, and this is also important, the commercial benefits for advertisers of being in trusted environments couldn’t be clearer. It pays to be safe.
