Betfret Twitter videos featuring Anthony Joshua have been banned in the UK over fears of the boxer’s influence over young people.
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) banned three video tweets on Wednesday, citing concerns that his large following among under-18s meant his appearance in the tweets broke rules introduced last year.
These prevent gambling companies from attempting to appeal to under-18s through reflections of, or associations with, youth culture.
“Although they made up a small proportion of his total followers, we considered that over 1.1 million followers aged under 18 was a significant number in absolute terms,” the watchdog ruled on Wednesday.
“We therefore considered that because he had such large numbers of social media followers who were under 18, Mr Joshua was of inherent strong appeal to under-18s.”
The ASA added that it had told Betfred “not to include a person or character who had a strong appeal to those under 18 years of age in their advertising in future”.
A Betfred spokesperson responded that the company believed it had not broken the rules by featuring Joushua in the tweets, which were posted between March and April this year and included interviews with the boxer on his diet and pre-fight preparations.
"It should also be remembered that the ASA did not receive a single complaint from a member of the public about our association with Anthony Joshua in this respect,” they added.