A tweet which focused on social media influencer and celebrity boxer Jake Paul by bookmaker Ladbrokes has been flagged by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Following on from his defeat to Tommy Fury in February, a Ladbrokes tweet asked users what would be Paul’s next move, which the ASA believed to have a “strong appeal” to under-18s.
The tweet gave options of ‘Win the re-match’, ‘head to the MMA’, ‘return to YouTube’, or ‘join the WWE’ to which the ASA brought up to Ladbrokes’ parent company – LC International Ltd – “must not appear again in its current form”.
The ASA stated that the tweet “breached the code” and was “irresponsible” as it may have appeared impressionable to Paul’s under-18 fanbase.
Despite the tweet containing no calls to action, promotional offers or links back to Ladbrokes, and while boxing is considered by CAP guidance to have no “moderate or high risk” for under-18 appeal, Paul’s background was considered enough to make the tweet unlawful.
Outlining the CAP guidance on situations involving social media personalities, the ASA report stated: “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 was considered moderate risk in terms of how likely they were to be of strong appeal to under-18s.”
The ASA report revealed that the tweet was promoted and targeted to users aged 25 and older, receiving 16,494 impressions when it was posted after the boxing match. Of those impressions, 47.1% were aged between 20 and 29 years old.
However, Paul’s following spans multiple social media platforms, and statistics find that although zero per cent of his Twitter followers are registered as under 18, 13, 16 and 18 per cent of his Instagram, Youtube and TikTok followers are registered as under 18 respectively.
Paul’s background in acting was also considered, as the social media personality had appeared in Bizaardvark, a Disney Channel show that ran from 2016 to 2018 and targeted a teenage audience.
Ladbrokes responded to the claim by assuring that its Twitter feed was age-gated and therefore could not be accessed by users in the age range.
