UK Ad Standards Group Says Publishers Are Still Responsible For Auto Generated Ads
from the uk-needs-section-230 dept
It continues to amaze me how important a law like section 230 of the CDA is to keep ridiculous situations from occurring. Fundamentally, we shouldn't even need a section 230 -- which notes that online service providers aren't responsible for the actions of users -- since it should be common sense. The person liable for violating a law should be the person who actually violated the law, and not the tool they used to violate the law. Yet, as we see time and time again in other countries that have no Section 230 equivalent, such common sense doesn't always play out.Take, for example, a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK, that says that any online publishers are responsible for the text of any ads they display -- even if those ads are automatically generated, such as by a system like Google's AdSense. That puts publishers in a really tricky position. The whole benefit of using something like AdSense is the fact that it easily fills in mostly relevant remnant ad inventory, without requiring the publisher to carefully review and sell the ad space. Making those publishers liable for the content of those ads is only going to drive them away from using such ads altogether, which doesn't benefit anyone. Yes, you can understand that the ASA doesn't want questionable ads out there, but then the liability should fall on those actually responsible: the advertiser who created the questionable ad. Not the publisher who had no control over it.
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Filed Under: ads, automated ads, liability, platforms, section 230, uk
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Not Providers of Holes
Also, there’s a general principle that things are the responsibility of the party closest to you – the one you had the relationship with. This helps with the UK propensity for buck passing. You buy the product. It packs up after three years. You would reasonably expect the product to last ten. It’s always the shop’s responsibility. The shop will always try to tell you it’s the manufacturer’s responsibility. You have a relationship with the shop. You have none with the manufacturer. Legally, it’s entirely the shop’s responsibility. Similarly, you went to guardian.co.uk. You saw an inappropriate ad. It’s The Guardian’s fault.
The UK has something not so different to the Communications Decency Act. The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 introduced the legislative exemption of ‘mere conduit.’ Unfortunately, it doesn’t cover as much ground. I think it may be pushing it for publishers to argue that they are service providers of holes, the holes being filled by someone else.
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What google ads?
Saying they are responsible for it is stupid. It's like if a newspaper is sold with a blank box with the words "insert ad here" and then the person who bought it from the newspaper vendor pasted a shady ad into the box and then somehow the newspaper is responsible for the content of that ad. There is no reason the newspaper should be at fault but the UK seems to think otherwise.
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If keyword-to-advertising matching were better, maybe online ads would start to become effective, rather than the ones I see for this page, which would only make sense if I had come here using a search engine as bad as the ad-selection engine:
UK Employer Law Advice
Avoid Tribunal Issues With A 24 HR Advice On 0800 xxx xxxx In UK
Faulty Products?
Received A Faulty Product? We Can Help You Make A Claim. Call Us Now!
More Money Than Ad Sense
Sell direct-link-ads and make Money Free website content plus cash
Pay Per Click Ad
Make at least $500 In Your First Two Hours - Guaranteed.
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Re:
Note: If someone douse not see the analogy here, replace "Comcast" with "website", "Fox" with "Google", and "Smilin' Bob" with just about any offensive add.
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Gun companies kill people?
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