Hitchin social media influencer Molly-Mae Hague has been reprimanded by the UK's advertising watchdog for a second time.

The former Priory pupil has fallen foul after running an £8,000 online prize draw which did not follow competition rules.

The Love Island star has been carpeted by the industry watchdog, after she had been unable to provide evidence winners had been 'fairly picked' and at random.

Twelve people contacted the Advertising Standards Authority, asking whether the reality star had included every entrant in her competition, which attracted nearly three million entries.

The BBC reported that Molly-Mae told investigators she had been 'overwhelmed' by the response.

The ASA said she claimed a member of her management team had manually selected 100 entrants at random and assigned each a number.

It said she added that another independent party had then used Google's number-picking tool to choose a winner.

However, the regulator noted that an Instagram Story she shared indicated the winner had been picked from a smaller shortlisted group of 25 people.

"We were concerned by the inconsistencies," the report explained, adding, "the promotion was not administered fairly."

Molly-Mae has more than five million followers on Instagram, and nearly 1.5 million on YouTube.

An industry expert insisted the governing body is now enforcing tighter rules against influencers.

Previously, the spotlight had been on those Instagram influencers who simply failed to flag paid-for posts as being ads.

The Love Island star had been reprimanded after a complaint was upheld against her after she did not make clear a post was an advertisement for an online clothing retailer.

The 21-year-old shot to fame after appearing on ITV's dating reality show Love Island in 2019, when she was one of the runners-up.

The ruling came a month after the watchdog acted against two other tanning brands which had used influencers.