Background
In 2024, the Government Communication Service (GCS) team conducted a comprehensive assessment of Mumsnet, a platform known for its active community-driven discussions and user-generated content.
The assessment process followed the former SAFE principles (‘Safety and suitability’, ‘Advertising context’, ‘Freedom of speech’ and ‘Ethics and enforcement’), and assessed the safety and suitability of site content and brand safety measures available to government, across display and video campaigns.
This case study demonstrates how the new SAFER framework can be applied to assess platforms where emerging technology offers new solutions to traditional brand-safety challenges. It shows how government communicators can use the framework to evaluate innovative tools – such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) content-tagging systems – that enable precise control over ad placement in user-generated content environments.
By working collaboratively with agency partners, the framework supports evidence-based decisions that allow government to reach key audiences on community-driven platforms while maintaining brand-safety standards and protecting public trust.
The challenge
Mumsnet presented unique considerations due to its community-driven approach to content moderation, where users report guideline-breaking posts and a dedicated team reviews them. This user-generated content environment has historically posed challenges for government advertising, with a lack of control over advertisement placements on forums leading to a previous medium- to high-risk assessment.
Given Mumsnet’s relevance for reaching key audiences across various campaigns, establishing a safe collaboration was crucial.
The brand-safety assessment process
The comprehensive evaluation examined Mumsnet across the framework’s former four principles (‘Safety and suitability’, ‘Advertising context’, ‘Freedom of speech’ and ‘Ethics and enforcement’), with particular focus on how emerging technology could address traditional content-placement challenges.
The assessment of this platform highlighted unique considerations:
- Freedom of speech: GCS worked with its lead media agency which tested Mumsnet’s new content-tagging system, identifying it as a way for government to fully engage with Mumsnet’s audiences while maintaining brand safety and suitability standards.
- Context: The government’s lead media agency leveraged Mumsnet’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) system for a health campaign, negatively targeting unsuitable content. This avoided topics like adult, political humour and sensitive subjects (such as accidents and disasters). With over 1,000 tags, the agency applied multiple broad or specific tags across various content types. They also implemented keyword-blocking and topic exclusions for enhanced protection. These measures were layered with relevant contextual targeting, including women’s health, retirement and gardening.
The results
The NLP targeting approach offered an effective way to confidently control the content types its messages would appear against, ensuring advertisements were served against relevant content. The test campaign delivered 100% brand safety and demonstrated that despite challenges of user-generated content and community moderation, a platform-specific approach was able to be implemented. This demonstrates how innovative technology and collaboration can uphold brand-safety principles in complex digital environments.
Following successful testing, Mumsnet was added to the list of suppliers available for campaigns.
The learnings
This assessment illustrated how innovative technology and collaborative approaches can address traditional digital-advertising challenges in complex community-driven environments.
This case study shows how the SAFER Framework can be applied to assess emerging technological solutions that enable government to connect with key audiences on platforms that might otherwise pose significant brand-safety risks, whilst maintaining the highest standards and safeguarding public trust.