The ASA has released a survey which was commissioned to establish what advertisements were being accessed and seen by young people online. The 27-page survey focuses much of its attention on the engagement by young people of social media platforms and, perhaps unsurprisingly, establishes that a significant proportion of young people register with social media platforms using false ages. The survey goes on to demonstrate that as a result of registration using false ages, young people were exposed to advertisements targeted at adults, including those for age-restricted products for gambling, alcohol, slimming aids and overtly sexual dating services.
As a result of the survey, the ASA has indicated that it intends to raise the age-verification issues with the various social media companies.