The article does mention, and I think it’s worth remembering, that AdStandards is an industry self-regulatory organisation. They can’t actually do shit. They call them a regulator, but they don’t have any real power. They don’t do anything proactively, can’t issue fines or legally-backed takedown notices, and their “rules” only apply to members of the AANA. Besides a lot of “we have investigated ourselves and found no misconduct” situations, this means the socmed ads mentioned in the article are functionally unaffected, because the businesses aren’t members. Even members can just refuse breach notices. It mostly exists as a place where consumer complaints go to die.
The article does mention, and I think it’s worth remembering, that AdStandards is an industry self-regulatory organisation. They can’t actually do shit. They call them a regulator, but they don’t have any real power. They don’t do anything proactively, can’t issue fines or legally-backed takedown notices, and their “rules” only apply to members of the AANA. Besides a lot of “we have investigated ourselves and found no misconduct” situations, this means the socmed ads mentioned in the article are functionally unaffected, because the businesses aren’t members. Even members can just refuse breach notices. It mostly exists as a place where consumer complaints go to die.