How is it that ads on the internet don’t seem to be subject to Australian consumer law, which requires advertisers not to mislead consumers? For instance, I am forever being told “this new cooling device will cool any room in 10 minutes while using 96% less energy than traditional air con systems and requires no pipes or installation”. As a mechanical engineer I can guarantee this is absolute garbage.
Most of the ads I see on platforms like YouTube are like this – they unashamedly lie about the product and its performance. This includes ads for health products putting people at significant risk. Is it simply that regulators don’t have the funding to police this, or respond to consumer complaints? Or have we abandoned consumer law just because the claims are made online?
Robert, Tasmania
Kat George says: The Australian consumer law applies to all businesses offering goods and services for sale in Australia, regardless of where that business is based. The Australian consumer law also applies, without ambiguity, to online advertising, including on social media.
This means that online advertising for goods and services cannot be false or misleading. Claims made in advertising for goods and services must be “true, accurate and based on reasonable grounds”, and a business needs to be able to prove that what they’re saying is truthful.
Unfortunately when it comes to online ads that may be false or misleading, tackling them is something of a sisyphean task.
The internet is vast and regenerative. As soon as one misleading advertisement is quashed – after being proven in court or through the regulator that is false or misleading – another dozen are likely to sprout in its place. And for every business that wants to do the right thing and advertise within the boundaries of the law, there are probably a few that don’t have the best intentions.
Add the ubiquity of online retail scams and generative AI to the mix, and it starts becoming an even bigger mess.
What you’ve described sounds like there are elements of “greenwashing” where a business makes a claim “that makes a product or service seem better or less harmful for the environment than it really is”.
The ACCC conducted an internet sweep of greenwashing claims in late 2022. It found that about 57% of the 247 businesses reviewed were making claims online that were of concern.
As a result of the sweep, the ACCC has maintained greenwashing as a priority for enforcement, compliance and education activities.
As a consumer, it can be difficult to navigate and to sift what’s truthful from what’s not. Trust your expertise and your gut, and if something doesn’t seem legitimate, you can report it to the ACCC.
While it’s not your responsibility as a consumer to report all the potentially false advertising you see online, it could be worth reporting the one you’ve mentioned, given that greenwashing is a priority for the ACCC. You can call the ACCC Infocentre directly on 1300 302 502. Be ready to let them know the details of the advertisement in question, the name of the business running it and where you saw it.
The ACCC actively encourages these types of reports, and will use data from consumer reports to help identify systemic issues and inform “compliance and education activities, industry engagement, advocacy, and research”. While the ACCC might not act on your individual call, if enough consumers report the same thing, it will be able to see the pattern emerging in the data and potentially investigate further.
This article was amended on 28 January 2026 to clarify the response to the reader.
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