This petition was submitted during the 2017-2019 parliament
Rejected petition Extend advertising standards rules to political advertising
Current advertising standards say that advertisements must be honest & truthful, meaning ads can't be misleading, & that claims made in ads have to be substantiated
Political advertisments are exempt from these rules, so there is no way to prevent political groups from making false claims
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There have been lots of instances where political groups (parties, political campaigns, & groups tying to influence policy) have not only used misleading information & statistics in ads, but have continued to use that information even after it's been proved to be untrue
This contributes to mistrust in politicians & the democratic process
It is time for political adverts to be brought within the scope of advertising codes, so that we can rely that everything said in them is honest & truthful
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
We can't accept your petition because it is not clear what action you would like the Government or Parliament to take.
In particular, we are not sure whether you would like political advertising to be self-regulated, as commercial advertising is, or whether you would like the Government to set up a new body to regulate it.
You could start a new petition explaining clearly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.