Proposed rules would make social media and search platforms check who buys ads

Ofcom has proposed nearly 40 new rules to stop scam ads on social media and search platforms. Nothing is decided: comments close on 2 October 2026. In our response to the consultation, we ask Ofcom to go further.

What platforms would have to do

The rules would cover paid-for ads on the largest social media and search platforms. They would not cover ordinary posts, or unpaid search results.

Under the proposals, a platform would have to:

• Check that the advertiser works for the business it says it represents.
• Check the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) register before letting anyone advertise a financial product.
• Test its own tools for making ads with AI, and fix weaknesses a fraudster could use.
• Make it harder for a fraudster to take over a real business’s advertising account.
• Ban an advertiser that posts a scam ad, and stop it opening a new advertising account.
• Let you report a scam ad without signing in or creating an account.

You could search every ad a platform runs

Each platform would have to publish an ad library: a public record of every paid-for ad shown to people in the UK. An ad would stay in the library while it runs, and for a year after it stops.

Advertisers aim ads at particular people, so you only see the ones chosen for you. Ofcom says that without a library, even experts see no more than that.

Anyone could search the library without an account. While an ad is still running, you could report it from the library itself.

When the rules would start

Ofcom published the proposals on 10 July 2026. It says that it will set out its final decisions next year. The rules would take effect once Parliament approves them, and Ofcom has not said when that would be. Once they are in force, Ofcom could fine a platform up to £18 million, or 10% of its global revenue, whichever is greater.

The rules would not set a deadline for taking a scam ad down. Ofcom says only that a platform should remove an ad “as quickly as it is feasible”. It says that this matches its existing rules on illegal content.

Platforms do not have to wait. Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s online safety group director, said that platforms “should not drag their heels”.

What the rules would not cover

The rules cover ads shown on the platform itself. These same companies also sell ads that appear on other websites. The Online Safety Act does not cover those, so the rules cannot either.

A fraudster who makes an ad with a tool from somewhere else, then uploads it, is outside the rule on testing AI tools.

On a search engine, the page you reach in one click counts as part of the ad. On social media, the platform does not have to look at that page at all when it judges whether an ad is a scam.

Platforms would not have to warn you

A platform that decides an ad is a scam would take it down and could ban the advertiser. It would not have to tell the people who already saw the ad or clicked on it.

Ofcom research found that 21% of people who responded to a scam ad did not realise it at the time. It took them between a few days and more than a month. Ofcom says that by then the ad is likely to be hard to find and report.

Platforms would not have to scan ads

Large platforms already use software that scans ads automatically, without waiting for anyone to report them. Ofcom says that for many large platforms, most of the scam ads they remove are found this way.

These rules would not require it. Ofcom plans to consult on that separately in autumn 2026.

What you can do now

Platforms already let you report a scam ad. Ofcom found a reporting category for fraud or scams on every platform it could test.

• Report a scam ad to the platform that showed it to you.
• If you have lost money to a scam ad in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland, report it to Report Fraud or call 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.
• Before you act on an ad for an investment, a loan, or a pension, search the FCA Financial Services Register and check the FCA Warning List.

Ofcom wants comments on the proposals by 2 October 2026. Anyone can respond.