The first Instagram, TikTok and Facebook posts by members of the public promoting weight-loss jabs have been banned by the advertising regulator.

The posts used discount codes and referral links to advertise the injections, including Mounjaro, for the online pharmacies Voy, Zava, MedExpress and the online prescribing service UK Meds Direct, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said.

Weight-loss injections are a prescription-only medicine and therefore cannot be advertised to the public.

Affiliate or referral schemes typically allow individuals to share links or discount codes and give them a reward or other benefit if someone else uses them.

The ASA warned that, in practice, this could mean members of the public promoting prescription-only medicines to friends, family, followers and the public, sometimes without realising that their posts may be ads or that strict rules apply to them.

The regulator said its rulings made clear that both brands and individuals are responsible for sticking to advertising rules, and that posts that include affiliate or referral schemes can still count as ads, even if they appear on personal social media accounts.

The banned posts promoted the medicines by naming them directly, using related hashtags, showing images of injection pens or encouraging followers to start their own weight-loss ‘journey’, alongside offering discounts or incentives.

The ASA ruled that they were advertising prescription-only medicines because they were public posts.

It also found that although the companies had not directly asked for the posts to be made, they did control how their affiliate and referral schemes worked.

This meant they were also responsible for making sure the advertising rules were followed.

The ASA warned that weight-loss prescription drugs were powerful medicines that should be used only under the supervision of a qualified medical professional, adding: “Promoting them irresponsibly and illegally can put people at serious risk, which is why this is a priority area for us.”

Catherine Drewett, investigations manager at the ASA, said: “Today’s rulings send a clear message that affiliate marketing is not a loophole and that promoting prescription medicines through social media, whether as a brand, influencer or customer, is against the law and our rules.

“We’ll continue take swift action in this area to make sure the rules are followed and that people are protected from harmful and irresponsible ads.”

A spokeswoman for Voy said: “The posts referenced in the ruling were made independently by customers of our service back in 2024 as part of a referral scheme for our weight-loss programme.

“These posts were first brought to our attention in June 2025, and since we have strengthened our controls around referral activity and influencer engagement. Clinical decisions — including whether medication is suitable — are always made privately between patients and qualified clinicians, and no influencers or referrers play any role in diagnosis, prescribing or medical advice.”

Zava said: “We are committed to being a responsible and compliant healthcare organisation that follows regulation and guidance from the ASA.

“While we were disappointed by the ruling, we note that we had no commercial or affiliate relationship with the social media users who created the posts in question, and as a business we do not have oversight or control over content shared independently by members of the public on their own social media channels.”

Julian Beach, interim executive director of healthcare quality and access at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said: “We welcome today’s rulings from the ASA. Prescription-only weight-loss medicines carry real risks and must only be prescribed following a proper clinical assessment.

“The promotion of these medicines through affiliate schemes and social media circumvents important safeguards that exist to protect patients.

“We will continue to work closely with the ASA and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to take action against those who break the rules and put people’s health at risk.”

Dionne Spence, chief enforcement officer at the GPhC, said: “These rulings from the ASA send a clear message that online providers are responsible for making sure that advertising rules are followed, including when working with individuals through affiliate or referral schemes.

“We welcome the action taken by the ASA and we have taken action to follow up with the pharmacies registered with us.”

The Children’s Commissioner has called for an urgent end to advertising on social media to children after finding they are being “routinely bombarded” with products that claim to change their bodies and appearance.

Dame Rachel de Souza said children were routinely exposed to harmful appearance-changing products online, including weight loss injections, skin lightening products and steroids.

More than three quarters of children (78%) said the ads negatively impacted their self-esteem, with 41% of 13 to 17-year-olds seeing prescription-only weight loss drugs despite a ban on them being advertised to the public.

Dame Rachel’s report, A healthy influence? Children’s exposure to appearance-changing products online, found more than half of children (54%) had seen exercise and diet plans and 52% had seen ads for food and drink products claiming to aid weight loss.

Some 46% of black children and 35% of Asian children has seen ads for skin lightening products, significantly higher than the 24% of white children who reported seeing them and despite many of these products being illegal to sell in the UK and containing toxic ingredients.

Two thirds of children (66%) had seen teeth whitening products online and more than half of girls (56%) had seen cosmetic procedures such as fillers or Botox, despite these being illegal for under-18s.

Some 8% of children had bought or tried non-prescription pills that claimed to aid weight loss, despite these products often being age-restricted to over-18s, and 21% of children had bought or tried food or drink marketed for weight loss.

Black children were more likely to try these products, as well as exercise and diet plans, than white children, the study found.

Some children reported reactions after buying or trying appearance-changing products online, including infections from eyelash products that contained undisclosed chemicals.

The latest report follows findings from a survey by the commissioner in 2024 that found just 40% of girls and 60% of boys were happy with how they look.

Dame Rachel is calling for an end to all advertising to children on social media by amending the Online Safety Act, changes to Ofcom’s Children’s Code of Practice to explicitly protect children from body stigma content, and stronger regulation and enforcement of online sales of age-restricted products.

Dame Rachel said: “Childhood is a short and precious time, but it is undeniable that children today are facing pressures like never before, with too many children growing up in an online world that takes advantage of their insecurities and tells them they are not good enough as they are.

“Extreme and potentially dangerous appearance changing products are being normalised to children through advertising, influencer culture and online posts, despite many of these products being unsafe, illegal or strictly age-restricted. For their developing and fragile sense of self-esteem, this is immensely damaging.

“Many parts of the online world are not built with children’s best interests at heart. The Government should consider every mechanism available to protect children from harmful content and services, including restricting children’s access to some social media platforms, but a social media ban for under-16s can only be one part of the solution. It is not an immediate guarantee that children will be safer online.

“Any ban must respond to what children think and how they behave online, with a clear plan of how it will be enforced so that it does not drive children to other, darker parts of the internet.

“Urgent action is needed to create an online world that is truly safer by design. We cannot continue to accept an online world that profits from children’s insecurities and constantly tells them they need to change or must be better.”

OnePoll surveyed 2,000 children aged 13 to 17 in December.

Stock prices in London closed mixed on Tuesday, after an underwhelming retail sales reading from the US.

Meanwhile, in the UK, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer sought to move on from speculation about his future after fending off serious calls to step down.

The Labour leader told a meeting of government ministers that they were “strong and united” after he vowed not to walk away from office just 19 months into a five-year term.

Sir Keir’s position had looked precarious on Monday, when Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar demanded his resignation for appointing Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite knowing he had maintained links to convicted sex offender Jefferey Epstein.

“The truth is that, at the moment, no potential successor is willing to step forward,” Commerzbank analyst Michael Pfister commented.

“Local elections are coming up in the spring, and there are fears that the Labour Party will suffer significant losses. It is questionable whether any potential successor would dare to come forward before then.”

The FTSE 100 index closed down 32.39 points, 0.3%, at 10,353.84. The FTSE 250 ended up 129.27 points, 0.6%, at 23,469.30, and the AIM all-share closed down 1.65 points, 0.2%, at 815.39.

Coca-Cola HBC was the second-highest UK blue-chip, up 4.7%.

The Zug, Switzerland-based soft drinks bottler, reported net profit of 940.4 million euros (£818.91 million) for 2025, rising 15% from 820.6 million euros (£714.54 million) in 2024, while net sales revenue climbed to 11.60 billion euros (£10.10 billion), up from 10.75 billion euros (£9.36 billion), driven by organic revenue growth of 8.1%.

Coca-Cola HBC proposed a 1.20 euros (£1.04) dividend, up 17% from 1.03 euros (89p). It guided for 2026 organic Ebit growth of 7% to 10%, and expects organic revenue to rise 6% to 7%, in line with its medium-term target range.

BP was down 3.2%.

The London-based oil major will reduce capital expenditure in 2026, cut operating costs, and pursue its 20 billion US dollar (£14.63 billion) disposal programme.

Also, it is suspending its share buyback programme, saying excess cash will be used instead to reduce debt to create a “strong platform” from which to invest in its “distinctive deep hopper of oil and gas opportunities”.

On AIM, Switch Metals jumped 14%.

The mining explorer, which is focused on developing battery and technology metals mines in the Ivory Coast, has identified additional tantalum-rich alluvial targets at its Issia project following the completion of a targeted alluvial work programme.

Stocks in New York were higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, the S&P 500 index up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite up marginally.

Apple was down 0.1%, and Alphabet Class A shares lost 1.9%.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority on Tuesday said it secured commitments from Apple and Alphabet’s Google to improve fairness in app store processes.

The UK competition watchdog said the California-based technology companies with a combined market share of more than 99% of global mobile operating systems have agreed commitments “to deliver immediate improvements in certainty, transparency and fairness for thousands of UK businesses dependent on app stores to serve their customers.”

The commitments include an app review which aims to ensure that Apple and Google review apps to be distributed on their app stores in a fair, objective and transparent way without discriminating against apps which compete with their own.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.14%, narrowing from 4.21%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.78%, narrowing from 4.86%.

This follows data published by the US Census Bureau showing that retail sales were lower than anticipated in December.

Advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for December were virtually flat at 735.0 billion US dollars (£537.88 billion) in December, compared to 735.1 billion US dollars (£537.95 billion) in November when they had risen 0.6%. The FXStreet-cited consensus had expected monthly growth of 0.4% in December.

Separately, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics reported that US import prices edged up 0.1% monthly in December, lower than 0.4% in November and below an expected uptick of 0.2%.

US export prices, meanwhile, advanced 0.3% in December, lower than 0.5% in November but ahead of an expected increase of just 0.1%.

Finally, ADP Research reported that for the four weeks ending January 24, US private employers added an average of 6,500 jobs a week, higher than an average of 5,000 a week for the four weeks ending January 17.

Also in the US, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday denied having connections to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as he came under fire from lawmakers calling for him to step down.

“Over a 14 year period, I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person,” Mr Lutnick told a Senate committee hearing.

In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended down 0.1%.

The pound was quoted higher at 1.3661 US dollars (£1) at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday, compared to 1.3612 US dollars (99p) on Monday. The euro stood at 1.1901 US dollars (1 euro), higher against 1.1814 US dollars (99 cents). Against the yen, the dollar was trading lower at 154.23 yen (99 cents) compared to 157.04 yen (1.01 dollars).

Brent oil was quoted at 68.82 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday, slightly down from 68.85 dollars late on Monday.

Gold was quoted at 5,011.70 US dollars (£3,668.49) an ounce, down against 5,068.99 US dollars (£3,710.63

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Croda International, up 275.0p at 3,201.0p, Coca-Cola HBC, up 200.0p at 4,478.0p, Burberry, up 50.0p at 1,225.5, Berkeley Group, up 160.0p at 4,272.0p, and Barratt Redrow, up 13.7p at 389.1p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Standard Chartered, down 109.0p at 1,790.0p, Babcock International, down 65.0p at 1,364.0p, Antofagasta, down 17.0p at 3,648.0p, St James’s Place, down 53.0p at 1,449.0p, and Hiscox, down 50.5p at 1,453.4p.

Wednesday’s economic calendar includes Chinese consumer and producer inflation data, and US nonfarm payrolls figures.

Wednesday’s UK corporate calendar includes third-quarter results from James Hardie Industries, and half-year results from both Renishaw and Barratt Redrow.

– Contributed by Alliance News