In the wake of the recent court ruling that reaffirmed the powers of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) to regulate advertising across all platforms — including the ever-expanding universe of social media — the agency’s statutory organ, the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP), is set to host a high-level stakeholders’ forum.
The gathering is slated for Thursday, June 19, 2025, at the Sheba Event Centre, Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, Lagos. It is expected to draw major players from across the Nigerian advertising ecosystem.
With the implications of the Federal High Court’s recent ruling still rippling through the industry, analysts and stakeholders alike speculate that the ASP forum will not only serve as a critical platform for unpacking this landmark legal affirmation of ARCON’s regulatory mandate but may also be the first major public test of the agency’s readiness to enforce these powers — particularly on digital and social media platforms.
Particularly expected to be on the front burner are issues around enforcement, compliance, technological readiness, and operational capacity — particularly in the digital domain. Following the court’s judgment in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1262/2024, filed by Digi Bay Limited (Betway Nigeria), Super Group Limited, and Otunba Kunle Olamuyiwa against the Attorney General of the Federation and ARCON, Hon. Justice Aluko of the Federal High Court in Lagos ruled unambiguously that ARCON is statutorily empowered to regulate all advertising — including that carried out by individuals and on digital and social media platforms.
The ruling addressed questions that have long hovered in Nigeria’s marketing communications industry: Does social media fall under its purview? Can the agency issue sanctions or fines? The court answered in the affirmative on regulatory scope, clarifying that ARCON’s authority extends to any person or organization engaged in advertising — whether or not they are registered professionals — and that social media is subject to regulatory oversight due to its public exposure. However, the court also held that while ARCON may issue violation notices, the power to impose penalties lies with the Advertising Offences Tribunal.
This clarification is seen by many as a sweeping win for ARCON — but also a sobering challenge, especially for its enforcement engine, the ASP, led by veteran marketing leader Dr. Emmanuel Agu. Stakeholders are now asking: can ASP vet, monitor, and regulate every advert in a fragmented, fast-paced digital environment?
Established by Section 55 of the ARCON Act No. 23 of 2022, the ASP is the vetting and ethical watchdog of all advertisements exposed in Nigeria. Its core mandate includes ensuring that ads conform with federal laws, the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice, and international best practices in ethical communications. Its decisions — including approvals or rejections of ads — are binding, and no advert is allowed to be aired or published without its vetting stamp.
Historically, ASP has operated with remarkable efficiency in traditional media — print, broadcast, and outdoor. But social media presents an altogether different kind of beast. With millions of Nigerians actively using platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), and with advertising content produced and consumed at the speed of a scroll, monitoring in real-time is both a technical and logistical challenge. This is likely to form the centerpiece of the stakeholder discussions at the forum.
What Stakeholders Want to Know
In interviews and informal conversations within the industry, several key questions have emerged: how will ARCON and ASP vet content on social media, given the sheer volume? What tools or technology partners is ASP engaging to automate or streamline digital ad vetting? Will social media influencers, SMEs, and digital creators be required to submit every post for pre-exposure approval? Is ARCON considering a tiered or exempt system for certain content? How will enforcement be carried out for non-compliant advertisers on foreign platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Google? What role will sectoral bodies such as AAAN, ADVAN, and MIPAN, among others play in the vetting process?
A cross-section of agency executives and in-house marketing leads say the ASP must provide clarity, especially in light of recent controversies surrounding deceptive and unregulated advertising that have victimized Nigerian consumers — including the recent CBEX Ponzi scheme that cost thousands of Nigerians millions of naira, allegedly promoted via unvetted social media ads.
ARCON’s Mandate and Its Expanded Powers
To understand the gravity of these expectations, one must trace ARCON’s evolution. Formerly known as the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the regulatory agency was rebranded and restructured following the enactment of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria Act No. 23 of 2022.
This new law repealed the APCON Act and gave birth to a more empowered, expansive, and centralized regulatory body. Under the current framework, ARCON has the power to regulate all advertising, marketing communications, and sales promotions in Nigeria — whether local or foreign, corporate or personal, analog or digital.
The ASP remains central to that architecture. Its work touches every ad that enters the public sphere, making it the nerve center of ARCON’s compliance enforcement. And while traditional platforms have been relatively easier to monitor — through broadcaster licensing, print registration, and billboard auditing — the digital and influencer space remains largely unstructured.
According to DataReportal’s Nigeria Digital Report 2025, there are over 36.8 million active social media users in Nigeria. Instagram alone has more than 14 million Nigerian users, while TikTok’s Nigerian creator economy has grown by 400% in the past three years. On YouTube, over 1,000 Nigerian channels now earn more than $5,000 monthly — many of them promoting brands, financial products, health supplements, and betting platforms, often without regulatory clearance.
In this chaotic digital jungle, the ASP’s 2025 forum must offer more than moral preaching — it must offer a strategic blueprint. While skepticism lingers in some quarters, others see the June 19 forum as an opportunity for regulatory reset and collaborative dialogue between ARCON and the industry.