Content Guidelines

1. How These Guidelines Work

These Content Guidelines set out the standards that apply to all content submitted to or published on the Advertise England platform, including business listings, customer reviews, event listings, images, videos, and any other material.

These Guidelines form part of our Terms & Conditions. By submitting any content to the platform you confirm that you have read, understood and agree to comply with them. Failure to comply may result in content removal, account suspension or termination without refund.

Where these Guidelines conflict with our Terms & Conditions, the Terms & Conditions prevail. Nothing in these Guidelines limits or modifies the rights reserved to Advertise England under the Terms & Conditions, including our right to remove content at our sole discretion.

2. Listing Content

2.1 What we expect

All listing content must be accurate, current, and a genuine representation of the business being listed. You must only submit a listing for a real business operating in England that you own or are authorised to represent.

2.2 Accuracy obligation

You are responsible for keeping your listing accurate and up to date. If your business address, phone number, opening hours, or services change, you must update your listing promptly. We may suspend listings that contain materially outdated or inaccurate information.

2.3 "Verified" status

Where a listing displays a "Verified" badge, this means only that the business has submitted a listing and passed our basic automated checks (such as Companies House matching). It does not constitute endorsement, vetting of qualifications, insurance, accreditation or service quality by Advertise England. Do not describe your business as "endorsed by" or "approved by" Advertise England.

3. Reviews & Ratings

3.1 Review standards

Customer reviews must reflect a genuine, first-hand experience with the business being reviewed. Reviews should be honest, fair and based on actual interactions.

3.2 DMCC Act 2024 compliance

In accordance with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and CMA guidance (CMA208, in force from April 2025), the following are strictly prohibited on this platform:

• Submitting, commissioning, facilitating or publishing fake reviews of any kind;
• Offering or accepting any incentive (cash, discounts, free goods or services) in exchange for a review, unless clearly and prominently disclosed in the review itself;
• Selectively publishing or suppressing reviews to create a misleading overall impression of a business's reputation;
• Any conduct that amounts to review manipulation under the Act or CMA guidance.

Advertise England takes fake reviews seriously. Suspected fake reviews will be removed without notice, and accounts found to be systematically manipulating reviews may be permanently suspended and reported to the CMA.

4. Images & Media

4.1 Image standards

All images submitted to the platform must meet the following requirements:

• You must own the image, have a valid licence to use it, or it must be in the public domain;
• Images must accurately represent your business, premises, products or services;
• Minimum recommended resolution: 800 × 600px. Blurry, pixelated or heavily compressed images may be rejected;
• Images must not contain watermarks from stock image sites unless you have a licence that permits display with watermarks (we recommend purchasing a proper licence).

4.2 Prohibited image content

The following image content is not permitted:

• Sexually explicit, offensive or indecent images;
• Images depicting violence, gore or harmful content;
• Images of identifiable individuals without their consent;
• Stock images with visible agency watermarks (unless licensed);
• Competitor logos, trade marks or branding;
• Images that misrepresent the business (e.g. images of a different premises);
• AI-generated images presented as real photography of your business.

5. Events & What's On

Event and "What's On" listings must relate to real, planned events taking place in England. The following standards apply:

• Event details must be accurate at the time of submission and kept up to date;
• If an event is cancelled, postponed or materially altered, the listing must be updated or removed promptly;
• Ticket prices, venue details and accessibility information must be accurate;
• Events must not promote illegal activity or content that would violate these Guidelines;
• Repeated listings for the same event (to game search visibility) are not permitted.

6. Prohibited Content

The following categories of content are prohibited across all sections of the platform — listings, reviews, events, images and any other submission:

6.1 Illegal content

• Content that facilitates, promotes or glorifies illegal activity;
• Content that constitutes fraud, deception or misrepresentation;
• Content that infringes copyright, trade marks, database rights or other intellectual property;
• Content that violates data protection law (e.g. publishing personal data without lawful basis).

6.2 Harmful and offensive content

• Hate speech, discrimination or content that incites hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, nationality or any other protected characteristic;
• Threatening, harassing or abusive content directed at any individual or group;
• Content that sexualises minors in any way — zero tolerance; all such content will be reported to the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF);
• Graphic violence, gore or content designed to cause distress;
• Content promoting self-harm, eating disorders or dangerous health practices.

6.3 Misleading and deceptive content

• False or misleading claims about products, services, qualifications, accreditations or pricing;
• Fake reviews, testimonials or endorsements (see section 3);
• Content that impersonates another business, individual or organisation;
• Claims of professional accreditation, certification or regulatory approval that you do not hold;
• Bait-and-switch pricing or terms.

6.4 Spam and technical abuse

• Duplicate listings for the same business;
• Keyword stuffing, hidden text, or other SEO manipulation tactics;
• Malicious code, links to malware, phishing pages or spam sites;
• Automated or bulk submissions without prior written consent;
• Scraping or harvesting data from the platform.

7. Enforcement

7.1 How we enforce

We enforce these Guidelines through a combination of automated screening and human review. Our moderation process:

• Automated screening: All submissions are screened automatically on upload for prohibited language, spam patterns, and known infringing content;
• Human review: Content flagged by our automated system, or reported by users, is reviewed by our moderation team;
• Proactive monitoring: We periodically review listings to check for accuracy and compliance, particularly following complaints or significant time since last update.

7.2 Actions we may take

Depending on the severity of a violation, we may take any of the following actions:

• Content edit: We may edit minor violations (e.g. removing a prohibited word) and notify you;
• Content removal: We may remove specific content (e.g. a review or image) that violates these Guidelines;
• Listing suspension: We may temporarily suspend a listing pending review or corrective action by the Lister;
• Account suspension: For serious or repeated violations, we may suspend the account;
• Permanent account termination: For the most serious violations, or for persistent non-compliance, we may permanently terminate access without refund;
• Referral to authorities: Where content may constitute a criminal offence, we will refer to relevant authorities including the police, NCA, IWF or other regulators.

7.3 Notification

Where we remove or restrict content, we will endeavour to notify the submitter by email within 5 business days, with a brief explanation of the reason. We are not obliged to provide detailed reasons where doing so would compromise our moderation processes, ongoing investigations, or the safety of other users.

8. Appeals

In accordance with the Online Safety Act 2023 and Ofcom guidance, we provide an accessible appeal process for users whose content has been removed or restricted.

8.1 How to appeal

To appeal a content moderation decision:

• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Content Appeal";
• Include: your account email address, listing reference (if applicable), a description of the content concerned, and the grounds for your appeal;
• Appeals must be submitted within 28 days of the removal or restriction notification.

8.2 Appeal process

• We will acknowledge your appeal within 3 business days;
• A member of our team (different from the original moderator) will review your appeal;
• We will provide a substantive written decision within 10 business days of acknowledging your appeal;
• If your appeal is upheld, the content will be reinstated promptly;
• If your appeal is refused, we will explain why.

8.3 Limits on appeals

Appeal decisions are final. There is no further internal appeal. You retain any legal rights available to you under applicable law. Appeals are not available for content removed under our zero-tolerance categories (section 6, paragraph on zero-tolerance), or where content has been referred to law enforcement.

9. Reporting Content

If you encounter content on the platform that you believe violates these Guidelines or applicable law, please report it to us.

To report content:

• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Content Report";
• Include: the URL or listing name, a description of the content you are reporting, and the reason you believe it violates our Guidelines or the law;
• For urgent reports involving potentially illegal content (e.g. CSAM, terrorism-related material), mark your email "URGENT" — we aim to respond within 24 hours.

We investigate all reports and will update you on the outcome where it is appropriate to do so. We may not always be able to share the outcome where this would compromise privacy or an ongoing investigation.

10. Contact

For all content-related enquiries:

• Content reports & appeals: [email protected]
• Copyright / IP complaints: [email protected]
• General enquiries: [email protected]
• Data protection: [email protected]

These Content Guidelines are reviewed periodically. The most current version will always be available at advertiseengland.com/content-guidelines. Material changes will be notified in accordance with our Terms & Conditions.