UK regulator says ad for birth control app were misleading

In this Friday, August 17, 2018 file photo, a woman demonstrates using the Natural Cycles smartphone app, in London. Britain’s advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority, ruled Wednesday Aug. 29, 2018 that the ad by Swedish startup Natural Cycles shouldn’t appear again because there wasn’t evidence to back up the app’s claims. (AP Photo/Nishat Ahmed, File)

LONDON — Britain’s advertising regulator said a birth control app’s Facebook advertisement contained misleading claims that breached the country’s advertising code.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled Wednesday that the ad by Swedish startup Natural Cycles shouldn’t appear again because there wasn’t evidence to back up the app’s claims.

The decision came after the agency received complaints about the ads which claimed the app was “highly accurate” and a “clinically tested alternative to birth control methods.”

Earlier this month, Natural Cycles became the first ever digital contraceptive device to win marketing approval from the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.

Women use the app to record their temperatures and track their menstrual cycle. An algorithm determines when they’re fertile.

Swedish regulators are also investigating following reports of unwanted pregnancies.   /kga