The UK Independent Press Standards Organisation (“IPSO”) is the independent regulator for the newspaper, magazine and digital news industry in the UK and, amongst other things, ensures that members follow the Editor’s Code of Practice. IPSO regulates everything publications have editorial control over including a publication’s social media accounts. One key provision of the Code is that “a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and, where appropriate, an apology published. In cases involving IPSO, due prominence should be as required by the regulator.”

On 24 January 2024, IPSO announced that it has published “Guidance on Due Prominence in Digital Media” to support editors and journalists in understanding how the terms of the Code on corrections are applied to online content and social media posts which fall under a publication’s editorial control.

The appropriate places for corrections to appear in digital media could be, depending on the circumstances, on a corrections page, on the publication’s homepage, underneath a headline, at the end of an article or in a social media post. Factors affecting whether the correction is duly prominent include the seriousness of the breach, the prominence of the breach (e.g. in a headline or in the article itself), the duration over which the inaccurate information has been published and whether the material has been corrected. The Guidance then addresses specifically how to approach the prominence of corrections when published in a social media post, in a headline or in the article text itself, with guidance on each situation accompanied by case studies.

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