The UK Gambling Commission has linked-up with Facebook to release guidance aimed at aiding customers to limit the number of gambling related advertisements visible on the social media platform.
Aiming to mitigate the risk of exposure to gambling-related messaging and advertisements, the guidance serves to explain how safety tools and settings can be adjusted within an individual account to control what a user can and can’t see.
“Facebook is committed to supporting a safe and transparent environment for people to control their experiences on our platform,” explained Rick Kelley, VP of global gaming at Facebook.
“We’re delighted that our partnership with the Gambling Commission will help operators to implement advertising campaigns responsibly, while helping to protect the people who use our services.”
Among the capabilities available for users is a hide ads feature, allowing control over which ads are visible, as well as an ad preferences tool which permits individuals to review advertisers they have recently seen and choose to see fewer ads about a number of predetermined topics.
Furthermore, a managing data function allows users to control how their data is used to show ads on and off Facebook, including whether they can be targeted based on certain attributes listed in their profile.
Neil McArthur, chief executive of the UKGC, commented: “Protecting children and vulnerable people from being harmed or exploited by gambling is at the heart of what we do, which is why I challenged the industry to look at how they can make better use of technology to prevent gambling-related content and adverts being seen by those individuals.
“Partnering with Facebook to produce this guidance is a welcome step for us in order to offer consumers clear, practical advice, and I hope that this will help them limit the gambling-related content they see when using the platform.”
This follows a similar partnership entered with social media giant Twitter earlier in the year, which saw the provision of guidance to its users who wish to limit the volume of gambling-related content across the platform.
