Grain Broadband Ad Banned by ASA Over Misleading YouFibre Price Rise Claim

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a cheeky email advert from broadband ISP Grain Connect, which headlined with a warning about Virgin Media “taking over YouFibre & BRSK“. But YouFibre successfully complained that the rest of the promotion had made “misleading price rise claims“.

Just for some context. The parents of the Virgin Media and O2 group of companies, including InfraVia Capital via nexfibre, are currently in the process of trying to complete their £2bn deal to acquire alternative broadband operator Netomnia (here) – the parent of YouFibre. Sensing an opportunity, rival altnet Grain Connect recently attempted to key into that with their latest email promotion, as seen in March 2026.

The email was headed: “IMPORTANT NEWS: Virgin Media are taking over YouFibre & BRSK”. Text below stated, “Got friends with YouFibre or BRSK? Help them escape the price rise rip-off and get a month of free broadband, each! What’s happening? YouFibre & BRSK are set to be taken over by Virgin Media. If your friends or neighbours chose them to avoid big-brand pricing and in-contract price rises… then this will feel like they’re being dragged back to square one. How to be a good friend As a Grain customer, your unique referral code is: LGGIBCIY. Share it with your friends and when they switch to Grain, you’ll both get a month of free service, each. And if they’re stuck in a contract? Don’t worry – we can help with that too”.

In response, YouFibre complained to the ASA that the ad had “made misleading price rise claims about an identifiable competitor“. The ASA ultimately felt the claims were likely to be understood as objective claims about the likelihood of in-contract price rises following the takeover, which is a common fear (albeit one that is currently unproven), and upheld the complaint.

ASA Ruling Ref: A26-1333462 Grain Connect Ltd

We acknowledged Grain Connect’s view that the references to “price rise rip-off” and “big-brand pricing and in-contract price rises” were intended as comparative claims about larger providers such as VMO2, rather than direct claims about YouFibre’s existing or future pricing policy. However, we considered that consumers were likely to understand the claims together, rather than as separate statements. We therefore considered that consumers were likely to interpret the ad to mean that, as a result of the takeover, YouFibre customers would face the type of pricing associated with VMO2, including in-contract price rises. We therefore expected to see evidence that YouFibre would, following the takeover, introduce in-contract price rises.

We understood that existing YouFibre customers would not be transferred onto VMO2 contracts. We therefore considered that Grain Connect’s evidence about VMO2’s own published terms and conditions was not relevant to the claim consumers were likely to take from the ad. We also had not seen evidence that, following the acquisition, YouFibre would cease to operate as a brand, or that YouFibre customers, including former BRSK customers, would move off their existing contracts and become subject to in-contract price rises.

Because we had not seen evidence that YouFibre customers would, as a result of the takeover, face price rises, including in-contract price rises, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), and 3.32 (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).

As usual the ASA banned the promotion in its current form and told Grain to ensure that any future ads “did not make misleading price rise claims about an identifiable competitor“.