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Social media users set to benefit from new hidden advertising protections

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance for social media companies, brands, and influencers to follow so that people can easily spot a paid-for online endorsement. The guidance covers:

• new principles for platforms to follow to protect users
• influencers told gifts must be disclosed as well as payment
• brands warned that compliance is their responsibility too

Everyone involved in creating content and posting this on social media must take responsibility to ensure all ads are labelled correctly.

Working alongside the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), Ofcom, social media companies and content creators, the CMA has produced a suite of resources designed to help those publishing and sharing paid promotions to comply with consumer protection law.

Three separate guides set out the expectations for social media platforms, brands and influencers about being open and upfront when it comes to paid promotions, as well as explaining the roles and responsibilities of the different regulators of online advertising.

Guidance for social media platforms

The ‘Compliance Principles’ set out how social media platforms should prevent and tackle hidden advertising appearing on their sites. These principles apply to all social media platforms and the CMA expects them to be followed. Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest and Twitch have engaged constructively with the CMA in drawing up the guidelines.

The principles require platforms to be proactive in tackling hidden advertising, including by:

• providing their users with tools to label commercial content and to report suspected hidden advertising
• improving information to content creators and influencers about what to label as a paid-for endorsement
• improving policies and taking action where hidden advertising is found
• using technology to identify suspected hidden advertising for action

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Guidance for businesses/brands

The guide helps make brands aware of their responsibility to tackle hidden advertising. This includes:

• being clear with influencers who they pay or send gifts to that they must label these posts in an obvious way
• taking action where this does not happen – for example, contacting influencers who are promoting products or services on their behalf and asking them to remove or amend posts to accurately reflect the commercial relationship

The guidance is clear that when posts are shared as part of a wider campaign, businesses themselves can be held accountable for misleading customers, as well as influencers.

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Guidance for influencers

The CMA’s guide reminds content creators that misleading customers through hidden adverts could be in breach of consumer protection law and that people should be able to recognise an advert as soon as they view it. This includes when influencers are paid to post, when they receive gifts and when they post on behalf of a brand they own or are employed by. Posts should clearly display that they are paid-for endorsements using #Ad or #Advert and not use unclear terms, such as: #gift, #gifted, or #spon, among other ambiguous hashtags.

Separately, the CMA and ASA’s existing ‘Guide for influencers’ sets out clearly what influencers need to do when sharing paid-for and promoted content online.

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The ASA can take action to ban undisclosed ads by influencers and, where an influencer appears unwilling or unable to abide by the rules, impose further sanctions.

For more information on the CMA’s work to improve transparency of paid-for endorsements on social media platforms, visit social media endorsements.

First published 7 November 2022