INSIGHT
What does more regulation
mean for affiliates?
“Regulation”, “whitelist” and “licensing”. Three words that are becoming increasingly frequent in
conversations with affiliates. Neil Fairweather of Latitude Digital Marketing looks at the influence exerted
by growing regulation and the restrictions implemented by key social and paid channels.
As an agency with a strong heritage
within the iGaming space, Latitude are
constantly being asked for advice by
affiliates who have recently come up
against regulatory issues in their paid
and social advertising. In the last three
months however, the volume of requests
has increased significantly. As it is hard to
find exact definitions of regulation from the
likes of Google, Facebook, Bing and Twitter,
this article will look to be your ‘Bible of
regulation’ (at least, at the time of writing).
So, how have the regulations changed?
Social media
The importance of having a social
strategy for any affiliate has increased
updates such as Panda and Penguin, and
they are trying to understand what the
regulations are and what actions affiliates
can take. Let’s look at what the regulation
states, and what this means for you.
●●
Twitter’s policy
For a UK affiliate, Twitter’s line is: ‘Twitter
allows the promotion of gambling content
in the UK subject to restrictions. Sites
driving traffic to gambling operators in
the UK (except lottery aggregators) such as
affiliates, tips or odds sites are permitted
as long as they do not require a license or
other permission for their activities. These
advertisers are only allowed with prior
authorisation from Twitter. ’
“Affiliates are seeing a significant drop in referrals through
their social media channels, and many have spoken of
this drop as being comparable to previous Google
algorithm updates such as Panda and Penguin.”
do not currently have an explicit license or
continuation license from the Gambling
Commission.”
In summary: Facebook’s policy means
it will only work with licensed and direct
adver F