Snapchat UK Adds Opt-Out Feature for Gambling Ads

While Snapchat is not the first social media app people think of when the topic arises, with the likes of Instagram, Facebook and TikTok being the more frequently referred to, it is nonetheless an incredibly popular platform.

The 10-year old platform has seen a resurgence in interest over the past 2 years with its 22% year over year growth resulting in it achieving more than 280,000,000 daily users in 2021. These users are rabid fans of the platform creating more than 5 billion video and photo snaps every single day.

 Snap UK Supporting Gamblers

Naturally, the USA and India are the largest markets for Snapchat, as they are with most social media platforms, yet despite a far smaller land mass than most countries the UK is the fourth on the list of Snapchat users with an astounding 21.1 million active accounts.

It is this access to so many younger UK residents, more than 75% of the user base is between the ages of 15 and 35, that saw the platform receive praise from the Betting and Gaming Council for implementing the option to opt-out of gambling ads.

BGC chief executive Michael Dugher said,

“I welcome this move by Snapchat, and I would urge all social media and search platforms to provide the ability for users to opt-out of viewing betting adverts.”

Adding that as a regulated gambling market the UK is determined to protect its youth from underage gambling, and this requires the support of platforms like Snapchat to ensure unscrupulous offshore operators do not abuse the access it provides them to young Britons.

 BGC Rolls Up Its Sleeves

The decision for Snap UK to rollout this much-needed advertisement control system did not come about by chance. Rather the BGC and Snap UK have been collaborating on which tools were needed and which changes the platform needed to make in order to comply with the 2020 update to the Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising.

Snap UK General Manager, Ed Couchman said,

“It has always been important to us that our community is able to influence the types of adverts they see on Snapchat. It’s fantastic to roll this change out and we’re grateful to have partners in the BGC who are doing vital work to ensure this industry continues to grow and evolve with consumers at the heart.”

Some of the changes implemented by Snapchat for the United Kingdom has been to target their advertising campaigns at users 25+, ensuring that all gambling ads meet the Gambling Commission's safer gambling requirements and now allows users to opt-out of key advertising segments, one of which is gambling.