May 2026
Content, Media and Technology
ASA issues ruling on Debenhams Black Friday savings claims
On 20 May 2026, the ASA published rulings against the Debenhams, John Lewis, Boots and Very websites regarding savings claims. In its ruling against Debenhams, the ASA upheld a complaint that Debenhams’ crossed-out reference prices and associated savings claims in two online display banner ads were misleading as part of a wider set of Black Friday pricing investigations.
Although Debenhams claimed to be acting only as an agent for third-party marketplace sellers (who set prices and contract with customers), the ASA held that Debenhams remained responsible for ensuring hosted offers presented genuine savings and the ASA expected evidence that reference prices reflected usual selling prices.
In upholding complaints against John Lewis, the ASA found consumers would interpret “Price includes £150 saving” for a MacBook Air at £699 as a genuine saving against John Lewis’ usual selling price of £849, but John Lewis did not provide sufficient pricing and sales data to substantiate that reference price. Regarding a separate product listing, the savings claim was unsubstantiated and John Lewis provided limited pricing history and no supporting sales data.
In its rulings against Boots and Very, the ASA upheld complaints that "was/now" reference prices and "Save" claims were misleading under the CAP Code and the product listings concerned did not represent genuine usual selling prices.
European Commission publishes draft guidelines on AI Act transparency obligations
On 8 May 2026, the European Commission published draft guidelines for consultation on transparency obligations for AI systems under Article 50 of the AI Act, to clarify scope and support compliance by providers and deployers of interactive and generative AI systems.
The consultation is open from 8 May 2026 to 3 June 2026, and the Commission stated that only responses submitted through the online questionnaire will be reflected in the final summary report.
The Commission stated that the transparency rules become applicable on 2 August 2026, and the context notes this date may be changed to 2 December 2026 under the Digital Omnibus.
The draft guidelines cover obligations to inform users when they are interacting with an AI system, to implement machine-readable marks to enable detection of synthetic content, and to inform people when exposed to deep fakes, AI-generated publications on matters of public interest, and emotion recognition or biometric categorisation systems.
The guidelines are intended to be complemented by a voluntary code of practice on marking and labelling AI-generated and manipulated content, with the final code expected in June 2026.
Government publishes response to House of Lords committee report on AI, copyright and the creative industries
On 15 May 2026, the Government published its response to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee report on AI, copyright and the creative industries, and confirmed it needs more evidence before deciding whether to change UK copyright law for AI.
The Government stated it no longer has a preferred reform option, and said it will not introduce copyright reforms unless it is confident they meet its objectives, including fair reward and protection for right holders and access to high-quality content for AI developers.
The Government confirmed planned workstreams including a consultation on digital replicas in Summer 2026, a taskforce on labelling AI-generated content with an interim report in Autumn 2026, a review of mechanisms for creators to control works online including input transparency for AI training, and a working group on whether smaller and independent creative organisations need support to license content.
The Government referenced the Creative Content Exchange pilot and stated an operational pilot platform is intended by Summer 2026, while keeping market-led licensing and international transparency approaches under review and noting relevant obligations under the Online Safety Act.
