ARCON mandate on social media misconstrued – Fadolapo
By Oghale Mafuru
Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, Director General, Advertising Regulatory Practitioners Council of Nigeria (ARCON), has reiterated that the regulatory body is not mandated to regulate social media, but all forms of marketing communication and advertisements across the platforms.
The Director General, who disclosed that the regulatory body has commenced talks with the owners of the main digital platforms, stated that It is outside of the remit of the apex regulatory body to regulate social media.
“We are not regulating social media. We are regulating advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications on social media. That is our remit. Our remit does not cover the whole social media. Social media is a medium or platform. The House of Reps sometime this year, passed a resolution requesting the former APCON to ensure they put up a framework to regulate advertising, advertisement, and marketing communication on social media.
“When our law was passed, it was the key element. So, what we did was write to all the primary digital platform owners. The ones that responded, we are talking to them,” he said.
The advertising regulator, who decried the unethical forms of advertising in the social media space, noted: “There must be sanity in the social media advertising space. All kinds of advertising that normally won’t be allowed into the traditional media finds its way to social media.”
Recall that ARCON recently announced the introduction of a new law that aims to reposition the advertising ecosystem by ensuring strict adherence to ethical standards and tenets of advertising.
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