Autism advert crackdown: UK watchdog bans ads for “misleading” stem cell treatment

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The UK Advertising Standards Authority banned five online advertisements from four companies promoting stem cell treatments for autism in children, ruling that their claims were misleading. The regulator said it investigated the adverts because misleading treatment claims could cause serious harm to a vulnerable audience.

Advertisements from four companies related to stem cell treatments for autism in children have been banned by the UK advertising regulator for being misleading.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) issued the rulings on specific advertisements from three Turkish companies (Linden Stem Cell, Rumi Pulse Medical Tourism Agency, and You Clinic Turkey) and one Serbian company (Swiss Medica XXI Century).1234The rulings cover five adverts that appeared on Google and Meta’s platforms (including Facebook and Instagram) in the UK in 2026.An ASA spokesperson said that the authority received a public complaint about one advert, which led it to check whether other clinics were making similar claims.“We found that there were and, given the vulnerable audience and potential for serious harm and detriment from misleading claims to treat autism, we launched a number of proactive investigations,” the spokesperson said.The barred advertisements are the latest instances of “ads making claims around curing and improving autism...