Leftwing activists who branded Farage ‘fascist’ work with DCMS on advertising
Nigel Farage talking to Camilla Tominey about bank account closures
A hard-left campaign group which seeks to shut down political debate in Britain by blocking advertising on centre-right channels like GB News works with the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) on advertising standards, Express.co.uk can reveal.
The shocking revelation is further proof that the scandal unveiled by Nigel Farage over banks closing the accounts of people whose political views they dislike is much more widespread in the sorporate world.
The scandal broke in June when Mr Farage revealed that his Coutts account was being closed because executives there did not like his views on a range of political matters.
Now it has emerged that the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN), which was set up by the hard left Stop Funding Hate campaign among others, is working closely with DCMS to influence advertising rules and standards to limit debate on issues like net zero and climate change, freedom of speech, immigration and other issues.
It comes after it was revealed this weekend that one of CAN’s volunteer directors Jerry Daykin, referred to Nigel Farage as “a fascist” in a recent Tweet.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage’s bank ‘just the start’ with woke Left taking over another industry
When Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to take action over Nigel Farage’s bank account being cancelled, Daykin Tweeted in response: “Wait… I thought everyone was campaigning so that the bakeries didn’t have to make gay cakes? Surely banks don’t have to serve fascist accounts as well?”
The founder of the group, Jake Dubbins also Tweeted in defence of Natwest closing Mr Farage’s Coutts account, saying: “In New York once I wasn’t allowed into a club called Cielo for the simple fact I was a man on my own. I demand an investigation and wall to wall media coverage as Cielo didn’t respect my freedom of speech or something…”
The comment have fuelled exisiting concerns about CAN which has been branded “anti-democratic” by a number of Conservative MPs and been linked to attempts to take advertising away from GB News.
But it has been revealed that not only has CAN worked its way into the advertising industry but is closely consulted by DCMS.
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In July, DCMS said: “From an advertiser’s perspective, responsible brands want to associate with content that embodies their values and ensure adverts are not exposed to an unintended audience or against content which is distasteful and jeopardises their brand safety.
“The Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) has a mission to protect brand safety through stopping advertising abuse and ensuring the supply chain uses good practice.
“CAN states that there is a role for advertisers in defunding disinformation or misinformation and can use its market power to make sure that platforms and intermediaries are more accountable for the non-advertising content they host.”
Conservative deputy chairman and GB News host Lee Anderson has led calls for Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer to cut ties with CAN.
It comes after Environment Secretary Therese Coffey ordered her department to end all ties with another hard left organisation, Greenpeace, after its activists invaded the Prime Minister’s private home in Yorkshire.
Mr Anderson said: “These revelations just show that cancel culture stretches way beyond the banking sector.
“The Conscious Advertising Network has a hold over the advertising industry with these Stonewall-inspired cancel culture charters, and the big five ad agencies shouldn’t be associating with a group that is so opposed to free speech and is so overtly political.”
Mansfield Conservative MP Ben Bradley also weighed in.
He said: “It’s worrying how quickly and deeply these politically motivated activists can worm their way into government departments to start having influence.
“It’s obvious that government shouldn’t be listening to or engaging with campaign groups that support silencing people and discriminating against them on the basis of their political views.
“This government has already done a lot to defend free speech so I’m sure it won’t hesitate to end all interaction with the Conscious Advertising Network.”
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Meanwhile, Batteslaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, chairman of the Blue Collar Conservatism Movement, said: “It’s bad enough that businesses have been ‘Stonewalled’ by their ad agencies and threatened by online mobs into signing up to divisive, hateful, political campaigns. It’s even worse to learn that the government itself has been working with this network of left wing activists.
“It is obviously horrendous that the director of the so called “conscious advertising network” supports debanking people for holding mainstream political views, but this is even more serious if the government is partnering with it.
“I hope the DCMS immediately distances itself from from this group and ensures that these politically motivated activists are kept well away from all government policy.”
Former Brexit minister Lord Frost noted: “It is very troubling that the industry trade body ISBA, and the major ad agencies, have all been so closely drawn in to CAN and its seven manifestos. Even more troubling is that DCMS seems to be taking guidance from CAN on how to regulate the online advertising industry. This cooperation needs to stop immediately.
“The fact that senior staff at CAN are now seemingly prepared to support the debanking of people they disagree with makes it very surprising that UK ad agencies take their views so seriously.
“I hope that current CAN members like Dentsu and Havas media – who represent major UK brands – will look a bit more closely at what is going on and its effect on their own reputations.”
Hastings MP Sally-Ann Hart added: “The director of the Conscious Advertising Network is openly calling people fascists for supporting Brexit, and supports debanking people with political opinions he disagrees with.
“This is a divisive political campaign group similar to Stonewall that should be ignored by government. It is not a serious stakeholder that deserves any airtime and I hope the DCMS stops working with these politically motivated activists immediately.”
Express.co.uk already revealed concerns about CAN which has the top five advertising – Omnicom, Publicis Media UK, The Interpublic Group, Dentsu, and WPP – networks signed up to its charter which aims to limit debate on a number of issues.
CAN boasts of its links with Google and Pinterest in using its advertising revenue streams for companies to close down debate on climate change and Net Zero.
It said: “Following 18 months of work with the United National Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, CAN and a coalition of other organisations, in 2021 Google announced a new monetisation policy.
“For the first time, misinformation that undermines the existence of climate change is no longer monetised through advertising.”
On migration issues, it noted: “CAN is proud to have built the case for ethical advertising at the United Nations, with whom we collaborated for its #Standup4HumanRights campaign, highlighting the Seven Key Elements to build narratives on migration and migrants.”
One of the organisations which helped create it, Stop Funding Hate, has also been embroiled in rows about anti-semitism including last month when Amanda Morris, the community organiser for SFH, had promoted the phrase “#FromTheRiverToTheSea” on social media which is connected to the Hamas campaign for the destruction of Israel.
Ms Morris defended herself at the time saying: “I do not consider that the retweets in question are anti-Semitic.”
Mr Dubbins and Harriet Kingaby, co-chairmen of Can, said: “The Conscious Advertising Network is a non-partisan, non-political network of 180+ advertisers, agencies and civil society groups.
“Founded to create a safe, inclusive and commercially viable information ecosystem for advertisers and society that supports quality journalism and content, diversity of media and scientific consensus.
“As a group, we are committed to inclusion of diverse voices, child safety, tackling misinformation, driving sustainability within advertising, reducing ad fraud, enhanced privacy protections for consumers and eradicating hate speech.”
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