The UK is opening a review of digital advertising rules and will force big tech companies to prevent fraudulent and misleading commercials online.

A three-month online public consultation launched Wednesday could also lead to the creation of a new regulator, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement.

Officials will look at the whole digital ad supply chain, including ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok and intermediaries like TheTradeDesk and AppNexus Inc. Ministers are concerned by the proliferation of online scams, such as fake tickets for events and influencers who don’t declare their financial interests, as well as more sophisticated wrongdoing including ads that upload malicious software when clicked.

The UK is the world’s fourth largest advertising market, the government said.

Online scams

The biggest social media companies, like Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc and search engines like Alphabet Inc’s Google will need to build systems that catch and prevent fraudulent ads, and remove them once they’re made aware, according to the government. That could include targeting ads that impersonate legitimate businesses and “ensuring financial promotions are only made by firms authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority”.

It’s yet another measure being added to the Online Safety Bill, a package of laws likely to be presented to lawmakers in the coming weeks that’s designed to force Silicon Valley to make using the web safer. The move was recommended by a panel of lawmakers who scrutinised the legislation in December.

 - Bloomberg