The UK’s regulator of advertising today advised “Love Island” stars, the Gale twins, against making “irresponsible” cryptocurrency investment ads.
Influencers on social media Eve as well as Jessica Gale, who starred in the well-known British reality show in 2020, have both posted Instagram stories that promoted a cryptocurrency investment scheme, as per the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
A story shared during June, by Jessica Gale, told her more than 100,000 followers an acquaintance has introduced “the world of crypto” and that it was “basically a super quick, easy way of making extra money from your phone,” the ASA stated.
Twins who together total 1.7 million users on Instagram and Twitter, urged their followers via two different posts to contact a different account to “find out more.”
However, following a complaint the ASA found that the advertisements were not responsible and warned influencers to not post such content and again.
If an advertiser violates ASA rules in response to an ASA warning or warning, the ASA may then refer it the matter to Trading Standards, a UK local government department that can take legal action, for example, fines.
Twins who together total 1.7 million Instagram followers, have Instagram and Twitter, urged their followers on two different posts to contact a different account to “find out more.”
After a complaint, the ASA found that the advertisements were not responsible and warned influencers against posting similar material in the future.
If an advertiser violates ASA rules after an alert an ASA member, the ASA could then report the advertiser for investigation by Trading Standards, a UK local government department who can then pursue legal action, including fines.
“The ads must not appear again in the form complained about,” the regulator added, noting that any future posts from the twins must “not trivialize the investment in cryptoassets.”
“We also told them to ensure that their future ads made sufficiently clear that the value of investments in cryptoassets were variable and could go down as well as up and that cryptoasset was unregulated,” stated the ASA.
The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority last month announced that it was working on regulations concerning how to deal with the use of crypto in marketing.
