Zilola Abdukahharova
Tashkent State University of Law
This article explores the role of self-regulation, emphasizing its unique advantages in fast-evolving industries like online advertising. Globally unified standards and hybrid coregulation models would help to avoid patchwork governance and promote a balanced advertising ecosystem. Author mentioned organizations developing industry codes of conduct, but also acknowledged the intrinsic limitations of self-regulation, including conflicts of interest and insufficient sanctions for violations.
Rapidly evolving field of online advertising has clearly emerged as a top priority area requiring internationally coordinated governance. Online Advertising regulation is an area where digital technologies, business and legal spheres have collided. It affects not only on digital trade, but also on other aspects of citizens’ life – including the way we interact, get information, work, shop and receive services both online and offline.
However, the escalating ethical concerns and negative consequences associated with the unregulated expansion of online advertising necessitate urgent attention. The consequences extend beyond privacy concerns to impact mental health, attention spans, and pose risks to vulnerable demographics, especially children. Specialists emphasize the importance of continued commitment to principles such as transparency, informed consent, global privacy standards, and consumer education.
In this regard, self-regulation possesses unique advantages in fast-evolving industries like online advertising. It refers to voluntary adherence to ethical standards and responsible practices by entities rather than mandated compliance through governmental interventions like legislation[1]. Specifically, self-regulation enables rapid responses calibrated to emerging issues that lengthy regulatory processes may fail to adequately address. The nimbleness also allows incorporating domain expertise from across the advertising ecosystem. Optimally designed self-regulation can fill crucial gaps by complementing government legislation.
Self-regulation predominates currently in steering the online advertising industry given the fast pace of change in digital technologies. The motivations include burnishing public image and preempting formal external regulations. For example, globally recognized guidelines, like Meta advertising policy principles that are equal for users, regardless of their country. Meta’s advertising policy principles reflect the growing emphasis on transparency and ethical standards in digital advertising, aligning with global efforts to protect consumer interests. Also, Apple Advertising Policies explain what is and isn’t allowed when advertising your content with Apple’s advertising services.
ICC’s Advertising and Marketing Communications Code is another globally applicable self-regulatory framework, developed by experts from all industry sectors worldwide. It sets high standards for a full range of marketing activities, including digital marketing communications with measures to protect children and consumer privacy. The ICC Marketing Code, widely recognized as the gold standard in advertising self-regulation, has been updated to keep pace with the digital transformation of marketing and advertising. This code seeks to ensure that marketing practices are legal, honest, decent, and truthful, thereby fostering consumer trust. The tenth revision of the ICC Marketing Code, released in 2018, addresses the complexities of digital marketing, covering areas such as artificial intelligence-enabled marketing, influencers, vloggers, and data analytics. It includes enhanced guidance on distinguishing marketing communications from editorial and user-generated content, expanded rules for digital mediums, and updated guidelines for mobile and location-based advertising. This revision also consolidates rules on direct marketing and digital communications and offers clearer guidelines on advertising to children and teens. Moreover, the ICC Marketing Code serves as the foundation for many national and regional advertising codes and is complemented by various sector-specific guidelines, further demonstrating its wide-reaching influences. These guidelines address a range of topics from mobile marketing to environmental marketing communications, ensuring a comprehensive approach to ethical advertising practices.
While self-governance has instituted certain positive norms like transparency through AdChoices and restrictions on harmful ads, critics argue it remains intrinsically limited given underlying conflicts of interest and lack of meaningful sanctions for violations. For instance, cases continue emerging of racial bias in ad delivery algorithms despite industry prohibitions on discrimination[2]. There are also limited avenues for consumer redress besides filing complaints to the self-regulatory bodies.
Guidelines also frequently suffer from vagueness and narrow interpretations allowing circumvention. For instance, restrictions may focus on ad content while ignoring issues like invasive data collection practices underlying targeting systems. Therefore, online advertising requires hybrid oversight integrating external mandates, cooperative self-governance mechanisms, and inculcating ethics through training and incentives.
Meaningful cooperation and flexibility for adapting policies to address emerging technologies like neuromarketing and their risks remain essential given the fast-changing digital landscape. The stakes are mounting to curb advertising abuses online before they irreversibly distort the information ecosystem.
Organizations such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) exemplify self-regulatory bodies that develop and enforce industry codes of conduct, promoting responsible advertising practices. For example, the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), developed by IAB Europe, exemplifies an industry initiative aimed at standardizing transparency and consent mechanisms.
Self-regulatory initiatives in mature markets like the US Digital Advertising Alliance promoting responsible cross-industry data usage provide models for multidimensional cooperation as well[3]. In that regard, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media brings together major industry associations and brands across the advertising ecosystem to collaborate on shared challenges around topics like transparency, ad fraud, ethics and mental health[4]. Concrete steps like the recent AR/VR marketing pledge demonstrate willingness for voluntary self-correction given appropriate spotlighting of concerns by watchdogs.
The establishment and adherence to ethical standards serve as a cornerstone of effective online advertising regulation. Best practices encourage industry players to adopt comprehensive codes of conduct that outline principles of truthfulness, transparency, and consumer privacy protection. These codes often address issues such as data collection, targeted advertising, and disclosure practices. By adhering to ethical standards, businesses not only enhance consumer trust but also contribute to a competitive and sustainable digital advertising ecosystem. While self-regulation initiatives emphasize data minimization and restricting usage solely for delivering “consistent experiences” rather than invasive profiling, urgent actions are needed around expanding opt-in requirements, enforcing purpose limitation and enabling erasure requests across the advertising tech stack[5]. Imposing mandatory impact assessments before deploying emerging tracking techniques also allows preemptively weighing benefits versus risks[6]. Overall, the largely unchecked fusion of personal data streams across contexts for commercial gain highlights the need for urgent and stringent regulations that put meaningfully informed user consent at the core.
International best practices recognize the importance of consumer education in promoting responsible online advertising practices. Industry stakeholders should engage in initiatives that raise awareness about privacy rights, online tracking, and ways to control personal data. Empowering consumers with knowledge enable them to make informed choices, reinforcing the effectiveness of self-regulation and ethical standards.
Globally unified standards emerge as an imperative to avoid patchwork governance. Hybrid coregulation models that enable cooperation towards shared policy goals can harness respective strengths of industry self-regulation and formal external regulation. This synergy between global standards and national enforcement is critical for maintaining the integrity of advertising practices in the digital age, it can help nurture a balanced advertising ecosystem. Cooperation is vital for avoiding geographical gaps or race-to-the-bottom deregulation.
To sum up, the author calls for multifaceted initiatives, including technological interventions, legislation, and a reassessment of business models, to address algorithmic biases, privacy violations, and the unintended consequences of digital advertising, by emphasizing the need for international standards that balance innovation with ethics in online advertising governance. Self-regulation in the online advertising industry is a vital mechanism for balancing the need for innovation with the imperative to protect consumer rights and privacy. Industry participants must remain proactive in developing and enforcing ethical standards. As the industry navigates these challenges, the collaborative efforts of stakeholders will play a pivotal role in shaping a responsible and sustainable future for online advertising.
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[3] Boerman, S. C., van Reijmersdal, E. A., & Rozendaal, E. (2022). Transparency effects of disclosing sponsored
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[4] Global Alliance for Responsible Media. (2022). About the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.
https://www.responsiblemediaforum.org/abou
[5] 4 Shin, D., Vagata, P., & Willemsen, M. C. (2022). A review of self-regulatory principles and enforcement actions. International Journal of Advertising, 41(1), 11-37.
[6] Cenite, M., Chang, CYH, Cheong, M., Teh, YS, Lim, QY. (2022). Managing invasive technologies through media literacy education in Singapore. Media International Australia, 178(1), 168-185