IAB contradicts advertiser body in new social media moderation guidelines

July 17, 2013 1:01

IAB Australia has released new guidelines on social media comment moderation telling brands that user comments don’t have to be treated with the same caution as advertising messages directly from the brand should not be treated as advertising.

The new Interactive Advertising Bureau standards directly conflict with Australian Association of National Advertisers and Advertising Standards Bureau advice that brands are liable for social comments on their own pages and that they should be treated as advertising. They also contradict the guidance on how quickly comments should be moderated.

The IAB is mainly funded by Australia’s online publishers.

Samantha Yorke, director of regulatory affairs at IAB Australia told Mumbrella: “We’ve had a number of conversations with the AANA over the past nine months or so about this issue and we have agree to disagree on whether user comments are advertising.

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Nic Christensen

Nic Christensen worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2016, in roles including deputy editor and media & technology editor. He is former media writer for The Australian and has also worked as a reporter for The Daily Telegraph and senior producer for Radio 2GB.

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