Online Advertising Pathways

With the passage of the Online Safety Act, Ofcom have new responsibilities to help make online services safer for all users, including overseeing how online services fulfil their duties about tackling fraud. Ofcom is not the only body with a key role in tacking fraud, however, and we are working together with other public bodies that have statutory responsibilities to investigate and prevent fraud, alongside industry and consumer bodies. This research is a part of a wider programme of work being conducted by Ofcom into understanding online advertising pathways and how to combat online paid for fraudulent advertising. This will feed into a Fraudulent Advertising Code of Practice which is planned to be published for consultation in May 2026.