Ad description
A post on Kwiff’s X account, seen on 14 July 2024, featured text stating “A potentially huge weekend for Sir Lewis Hamilton ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone [race car emoji] #F1”. The post contained an image of Sir Lewis Hamilton and a banner across the bottom that featured an 18+ symbol and the BeGambleAware.org logo. The post also contained a link to an article on Kwiff’s website about the British Grand Prix.Issue
The complainant, a researcher from the University of Bristol, challenged whether the ad included an individual who was likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s and therefore breached the Code.Response
Eaton Gate Gaming Ltd t/a Kwiff said they believed the image used was reasonable in the context of the published advice of CAP which stated “that motorsports and golf are more adult-oriented and unlikely to be of inherent ‘strong’ appeal” and the demographic data they held for Sir Lewis Hamilton and their own social media following.
Kwiff said the post in question was created to drive traffic to their company blog; that website was separate from their gambling platform and the landing page from the article did not direct users to a gambling platform.
Kwiff considered the post was editorial commentary on a sporting event, which had no inducement to gamble and no call-to-action. It linked directly to a sports news blog and not to a web page where consumers could gamble. They considered that the 18+ and BeGambleAware logos were not being used in the post as a signal of advertising, but as a precautionary compliance measure in line with their licencing requirements.
The Kwiff X page had 11,700 followers and they provided a demographic breakdown, including region and age statistics, which showed 0% of Kwiff’s followers were aged between 13 and 17 years. They said Kwiff had not promoted the content, or ‘tagged’ Sir Lewis Hamilton and believed that would reduce the likelihood of the ad being seen by someone who did not follow their account and had searched for Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Kwiff understood that Sir Lewis Hamilton’s primary social media account was his Instagram page, due to the frequency from which he posted on that account, the large follower numbers (37.5 million) and as it was the only account with a link to his personal website. They provided an analytical assessment from that Instagram account and said that 4% of followers on that account were aged under 18. They also said that Sir Lewis had 8.4 million followers on X, and 6.2 million on Facebook, but that those platforms did not allow for specific demographic analysis.
Kwiff understood that the relevant rules required advertisers to take reasonable steps to minimise under-18 exposure, not to guarantee exclusion. They said that there was no standardised approach to age-verification across social media and considered that age-verification processes were not always reliable. Having assessed the data they held, they were confident that their content would not reach, or appeal, to under-18s and they believed that by posting the content on X, they took reasonable and proportionate steps to ensure that the material was unlikely to reach under-18s.
Kwiff highlighted that Sir Lewis was older than most other current Formula 1 drivers, and believed the younger drivers would be more appealing to a younger audience. They also understood that the motor racing demographic was likely to be older, compared to football. They stated that data from Nielsen Sports (2022) found the median age of F1 fans was 32 years, with the majority aged 25–44. They highlighted that Sir Lewis Hamilton’s partnerships and sponsorships were with luxury brands that appealed to adults and were not targeted at those aged under 18. Similarly, Sir Lewis featured in the Netflix show “Drive to Survive”, which had a 16-plus age rating. Although they recognised that Sir Lewis was widely known, they considered that the cited merchandise and other commercial products with which he was associated did not provide evidence of disproportionate appeal to under-18s.
They also noted his appearance in the “F1 24” video game, which they acknowledged was had an age-rating of 3 years old and above. However, they did not consider that the 3+ age threshold reflected the likely age of the players, as the game required an understanding of various technical aspects of driving and racing, which were not aimed at children. They noted that the associated Esports series had a minimum age of 16 years, which they considered further reduced the likelihood of children engaging with the game. They believed that the data indicated that Sir Lewis appealed to an older audience rather than those aged under 18.
Kwiff noted that Sir Lewis won the British Grand Prix on 7 July 2024, the day after the post was made.
Kwiff said they had nonetheless reviewed their social media accounts and removed any content that displayed mainstream sportspeople.
X said the posts in question were organic content and not promoted content or paid-for ads. They said they were committed to ensuring a safe environment for all users, but especially under-18s and they had a series of protection measures in place. For example, users on X had to be aged 13 or over and anyone under that age was not permitted to sign up for an account. Advertisers could choose to apply their own sensitive content settings to avoid under-18s from seeing their content and they could not choose to target 13–17-year olds with paid-for ads. Furthermore, content from gambling operator accounts could not be recommended for, or promoted to, known under-18s on the platform. In terms of age verification, X added that they had now introduced a multi-step age assurance methodology, under the recent UK Online Safety Act. Additionally, they said there was the ability for third parties to report accounts that they believed were underage. With regard to the complaint about this post, which X noted was posted in 2024, they said their approach was in line with industry standard, with many of their industry peers taking the same approach, and in line with data protection regulations. They pointed out that there was not a prescribed obligation to implement age assurance measures under UK law in 2024. They said that under-18s represented a small fraction of X’s user base and that minors constituted approximately only 1% of the total number of UK users on X. They believed that showed that the vast majority of X’s audience was composed of adults and that the percentage of under-18 users was much lower than other social media platforms.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA first considered whether the post was advertising and therefore fell within the scope of the CAP Code. Paragraph I(h) of the Scope of the Code stated that the Code applied to “advertisements and other marketing communications by or from companies, organisations or sole traders on their own websites, or in other non-paid-for space online under their control, that [were] directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services, opportunities and gifts, or which consist[ed] of direct solicitations of donations as part of their own fund-raising activities”.
The post appeared in non-paid-for space online under Kwiff’s control. We therefore considered whether they were directly connected with the supply of betting services.
The post was published the day before the 2024 British Grand Prix, in which Sir Lewis Hamilton was a participant, and featured an image of him on a racing track, holding up the British flag. The post also included the 18+ and BeGambleAware.org logos. The text also referred to another F1 driver, Lando Norris. We understood that Kwiff offered bets on the race, including for Sir Lewis Hamilton to win the race. We considered the purpose of the post was to promote the Kwiff brand and their gambling services, by highlighting a prominent and imminent sports event and referring to the participants, on whose performance consumers could bet, using Kwiff’s services. The ad linked through to an article which provided odds on the race, including for Sir Lewis Hamilton to win, which linked in turn to the Kwiff gambling site where bets could be placed.
We considered the post was therefore directly connected with the supply of betting services and was an ad falling within the scope of the CAP Code.
We then considered whether the ad breached the Code.
From 1 October 2022, the CAP Code stated that marketing communications for gambling products must not be likely to be of strong appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture. They must not include a person or character whose example was likely to be followed by those aged under 18 years or who had strong appeal to those aged under 18.
We considered that it would have been acceptable for gambling ads that featured individuals likely to be of strong appeal to children to appear in a medium where those aged under 18, for all intents and purposes, could have been entirely excluded from the audience. That would apply in circumstances where those who saw the ads had been robustly age-verified as being 18 or older. We understood that at the time of the complaint there was not a prescribed standard of age assurance under UK law, and we noted X’s comment that it, like other social media platforms, had recently introduced age assurance measures. Our consideration was limited to whether the ads were in breach of CAP Code rule 16.3.12 by being of strong appeal to under-18s and we did not assess or have any comment on X’s or other platforms’ compliance with the UK’s Online Safety Act, which was a separate matter.
We recognised that in 2024, X had protection policies in place for under-18 users. In particular, we understood that organic content generated from a certified gambling account on X would not be recommended or promoted to known under-18s through the FYP mechanic, where users were recommended content by X’s algorithm from accounts they may not follow. We understood therefore that X did not allow registered under-18s to follow gambling operator accounts and acknowledged that Kwiff had stated their account had 0 followers registered as under-18.
However, we understood that in 2024, as with other media platforms, X relied on users to self-verify their ages on signing up to the platform, and therefore under-18s could falsely claim they were over 18 when creating an account. We accepted that X had an additional measure in place, whereby third parties could report accounts that they believed were underage. Whilst helpful, we considered that this measure was unlikely to effectively identify all accounts that had falsely claimed to be over 18.
Ofcom’s most recent report from April 2024 (‘Children and parents: media use and attitudes’, which discussed media use, attitudes and understanding among children in the UK) stated that whilst “6% of respondents (namely their parents) said that their child used X, that figure represented the proportion of usage amongst all 13–17-year olds. The report stated that the figure rose to 10% of 12–15-year olds, 17% of 16–17-year olds, and 19% of 16–17-year-old boys.
An Ofcom report from November 2023 (‘Online Nation 2023’) featured an Ipsos report which stated that 1.4 million (60%) of 15–17-year-old online users used X in May 2023.
An Ofcom report from 2022 (‘Children’s Online User Ages Quantitative Research Study’; sample based on quota of 1,000 social media users aged 8–17) indicated that 20% of 8–17-year olds who had social media, used X. That same report indicated 32% of 8–17-year olds with at least one social media account had a registered user age of 18 or above.
The 2022 report also stated that “despite most platforms having a minimum age of 13, the research suggests that 6 in 10 (60%) children aged 8 to 12 who use these platforms are signed up with their own profile”.
Given that evidence, we considered it was likely that there was at least a significant number of children in 2024 who had not used their real date of birth when signing up to X and were able to see and access content intended for those aged 18 or older, meaning they could view content from verified gambling accounts, both from following that account or through the X FYP functionality. We recognised that was an issue across social media platforms generally, and not just in relation to X.
The ad featured Sir Lewis Hamilton, who had won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers’ Championship titles and was recognised with a knighthood in 2021 for his outstanding achievements and contribution to motorsport. In his “Hall of Fame” bio on the Formula 1 website, Sir Lewis Hamilton was described as recognising his responsibility as a role model for young people, which further described that “the social media star encouraged his millions of supporters in ‘Team Hamilton’ to follow their dreams and never give up”. Sir Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix on 7 July 2024, the day after Kwiff posted the ad. We considered that Sir Lewis Hamilton would be recognised by many as a household name in the UK, due to his exceptional success in his sport and his longstanding career.
CAP guidance stated that sportspeople involved in clearly adult-oriented sports who were ‘notable’ stars with significant social media and general profiles which made them well known to under-18s were likely to be of ‘moderate risk’ of strong appeal to under-18s and stated that they would be assessed on the basis of their social and other media profile.
We considered Sir Lewis Hamilton was a notable star within the sport, with a significant public profile and social media following. As such, we considered that Kwiff would have been aware of the possibility that Sir Lewis Hamilton would have strong appeal to under-18s, as both a “moderate risk” in terms of his status in an adult-oriented sport, and his significant social media following.
The CAP Guidance also stated that a generally high social media following that attracted a significant absolute number of under-18 followers, as determined through quantitative or qualitative analysis, was likely to be considered an indicator of “strong appeal”.
We understood from the information provided by Kwiff that Sir Lewis Hamilton’s Instagram, which was his largest social media account, had 37.5 million followers, of which approximately 4% (1,500,000) of those, globally, were under 18 years. They also provided a breakdown by geographical region, which showed that 10.13% of his Instagram followers were registered from the UK, which provided an estimate of 150,000 UK based under-18 followers on Instagram. Although that was an approximate figure based on the information available, it suggested Sir Lewis Hamilton had a significant number of under-18 followers in the UK on his Instagram account alone, in absolute terms.
We therefore considered that the estimated number of Sir Lewis Hamilton’s UK based under-18 followers on Instagram alone indicated he was likely to have strong appeal to under-18s.
We understood that Kwiff did not have a breakdown for Sir Lewis Hamilton’s X or Facebook followers. In total, Sir Lewis Hamilton had 6.2 million Facebook followers and 8.4 million X followers, of which Kwiff had estimated that 2,000 of his Facebook and 13,000 of his X followers were under 18 years and based in the UK.
The CAP guidance indicated that a generally high social media following that attracted a significant absolute number of under-18 followers was likely to be considered an indicator of strong appeal by the ASA. We considered that a high number of total followers, for example, in the millions (in this instance), could indicate an increased risk of a large social media following of under-18s, even where that was a small proportion of the total. Therefore, in the absence of a more detailed breakdown showing the number of under-18 UK followers, advertisers should consider that a high total of followers could indicate that a personality may have a high number of under-18 followers, which would be an indicator of strong appeal. Advertisers should therefore exercise caution when relying on estimate figures. We noted that Kwiff had not provided a breakdown of the Facebook following and had only an estimate of the X following.
Notwithstanding that, we considered that Sir Lewis Hamilton’s 150,000 under-18 UK Instagram followers alone indicated he had strong appeal to under-18s. That figure would only be increased by any additional under-18 UK based followers on X and Facebook.
We then assessed Sir Lewis Hamilton’s commercial partnerships and media appearances. We considered that his considerable profile meant that he would have been well known and appealing to various age ranges, both adults and younger people. For example, Sir Lewis Hamilton appeared in, and was a cover star, for the “F1 24” video game, available on PC and game consoles, which had an age rating of 3+ and an Esports series for those aged 16 and over. We considered that video game and the Esports series would have had a strong appeal to young people, including under-18s, and that his appearance on those games would have increased his appeal to under-18s.
We understood that Mercedes, his team at the time of the ad, sold Sir Lewis Hamilton clothing merchandise in children’s sizes and Funko POP! Toys in his image. Mr Hamilton also appeared as himself as a storyteller for CBeebies Bedtime Story on 3 July 2024. We considered that these appearances, products and associations increased his appeal to under-18s.
We acknowledged that Sir Lewis Hamilton was primarily famous for his association with an adult oriented sport but considered he was very well known to a general UK audience, including to children and young people. We considered, based on his public profile, commercial partnerships, media appearances and UK under-18 social media following, that he had strong appeal to under-18s.
For those reasons, we concluded the ad was irresponsible and breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 16.1, 16.3 and 16.3.12 (Gambling).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Eaton Gate Gaming Ltd t/a Kwiff not to include a person or character who had strong appeal to those under 18 years of age.
