Issue Regarding Advertisement On My Website - Claims Regarding Money/Earnings...

Hi there,

On one of my websites I have in the past been displaying advertisements that claim to earn a person money through casino gambling. The banners advertising the site claim to be able to earn someone £20 in 10 minutes (or something along those lines).

Basically I'm wondering, can I get in trouble for displaying advertisements to external sites that might not back up their claim of earning £20 in 10 minutes?

Am I expected not to display advertisements like this on my site, for legal reasons (as well as the moral reasons, perhaps).


Thanks for any help.

 

Would appreciate any help offered on this matter...

Thanks

 

So that I am following you....

You are questioning the claim of one of your third party ads, or sponsors?

and.... wondering if you can be held liable for THEIR claims?

 

May be you should modify your Terms of Use agreement to safeguard your position.

 

Yes - that is basically what I am wondering.

Am I responsible for the advertisements shown on my website - if they make claims that might not be very true. For example, say they state that you could double your money from their gambling system...which is basically just a martingale system...can I be in trouble for 'promoting' their system on my website, by hosting their advert?

Say I was to add some kind of disclaimer to my website, stating that I cannot be held liable for the content of the advertisements - would that cover it, or would I simply not be able to allow these kinds of advertisements on my website?


Thanks for any help

 

Just add a disclaimer saying that results are not guaranteed.

 

Thanks Deities, but would this be enough?

Would I just put a disclaimer at the bottom of my website, in small font (or are there any other legal requirements about this?)

Thanks again

 

From an ethical and site-appearance standpoint, were it me, I'd ban the ads.

In my genre, it's scammy publishers that are a problem. A lot of my readers are wanna-be writers and if they see a tasty ad for a publisher, they're likely to click it. However, I KNOW those companies are scammers. If any of my readers were to be taken by a scammer from an ad they saw on my site, I'd feel bad. Plus, it's a lousy user experience. And, additionally, for people who DO know they're scammers, it makes my site look very bad to have their ads showing on my site. So I ban them.

Gambling sites that are likely running a scam of some sort, I think, would fall into the same category.

-- Leva

 

I would have to agree with LevaCygnet because in the long run it will hurt your repute. You could add a disclaimer and become free from the worry of being held responsible. Consider what your website visitors would think if they were cheated? Think how you would feel if someone showed you such an advertisement and then it turned out to be true? If you are concerned about the reputation of the website where you are displaying these advertisements then I for one would recommend against it. But as for your original question, yes you should be safe if you add a clear cut disclaimer.

 

What kind of disclaimer does that advertiser have? Do they guarantee that you will earn that? Can someone sue the advertiser if they dont make the £20 in 10 minutes?

 

Where you are however condoning the fact that they could make that much, there is of no legal issue to you.

Morally, its technically probably a lie.
Legally, It's false advertising on them, regardless of what means they used to advertise.

 

There may or may not be a legal issue on you depending on context but generally you wouldnt be held responsible for advertisers false advertising unless you knew (rather than suspected) that it was wrong or if you are holding yourself up as an expert on the matter.

Disclaimers may or may not change the fact that you are liable however they will not stop someone attempting to sue you and the time and effort it takes to deal with court action can often out weigh the monies involved in the claim (hence why lots of companies settle on a without prejudice basis).

My personal concern would be the association, people will mentally link the advertiser with the advertisee and so they scam your users and people put negative thoughs on your site.... similar to how a lot of advertisers pulled out from facebook (or was it myspace?) last year because their ads were showing on a British National Party (pseudo neo-nazi for those that dont know) page and the advertisers didnt want the public to think they supported the BNP