Advertising policy

• “Sponsored · Ad”: a business paid us to show this. The label is always there and can't be removed.
• “Promoted”: a club used one of its free boosts to appear in Explore. Nobody paid (section 8).

Local businesses and services that are useful to students: cafés and takeaways, gyms, letting agents and student housing, banks and phone networks, barbers, bike shops, student discount schemes, and bars and clubs (18+ only, see section 5).

Ads are booked directly with us, and we check every ad against this policy and the UK advertising rules (the CAP Code) before it runs. We can refuse or remove any ad. Sponsored spots stay switched off until enough students use StudentSoc.

• gambling, betting, lotteries and prize draws that need payment;
• vapes, e-cigarettes and tobacco;
• payday loans and other high-cost credit;
• dating apps and sites;
• crypto and other speculative investments;
• drinks brands (bars and clubs can advertise a night, but drinks makers can't advertise their drinks or sponsor anything here);
• less-healthy food and drink products from big chains (businesses with 250 or more staff), which UK law no longer allows in paid online ads;
• anything illegal, adult or misleading.

Only in four fixed places, and only to signed-in students:

• the Home feed (never in the first three cards, and at most one in every eight);
• Explore (at most one per screen, never in the calendar);
• the weekly digest email, if you've chosen to get it with offers from local partners;
• York Nights (18+ only).

Never on pages for people who aren't signed in, club pages, event pages, Recaps, anything to do with a faith, political, LGBTQ+ or cultural society, checkout, payment and shop pages, settings or sign-up.

• Only shown to signed-in students who've passed our 18+ check. Never to under-18s.
• No people in the image: show the venue, the theme or graphics.
• No drink prices or deals, no drinking games, and nothing linking drinking to popularity, confidence or sex.
• Show the all-in entry price. The nightlife guidelines apply in full.

• Prices must be all-in. Housing ads must show the full rent and every fee.
• No fake countdowns, false “only 2 left” claims or other pressure tricks.
• Nothing aimed at under-18s, and nothing that mocks or pressures people.

• No advertising cookies, no ad networks and no third-party scripts. We show ads from our own servers, so there's no cookie banner.
• Ads are chosen only by your university and whether you've passed the 18+ check. Never by the clubs you're in or follow, the kinds of clubs you like, the events you go to or anything you post.
• You see at most one ad per spot per day. We pick it with a calculation from your account and the date, so we don't need to keep a record of which ads you've seen.
• Advertisers only get daily totals of views and clicks. Never names, lists or anything about who you are.

• Every club gets 2 free boosts a term. A boost puts the club, an event or a post in the Explore spotlight for 3 days, labelled “Promoted”.
• Clubs can't pay for extra boosts, so bigger clubs can't buy their way to the top.
• One boost per club at a time, and at most one Promoted card in every six.
• Faith, political, LGBTQ+ and cultural societies are only boosted if they choose to be.

If a club is paid or rewarded for a post or event (a sponsor, discount or free kit), it must mark it as sponsored and StudentSoc shows the same “Sponsored · Ad” label. Hiding it breaks our terms and UK law.

Use Report on the ad. We'll check it against this policy and take it down if it breaks the rules.