At the end of September, President Competition and Consumer Protection Office launched an investigation into the advertising activities of social media influencers, As part of that he examines the relationships of Internet stars with advertising agencies and advertisers.
– We’ll take a closer look at the social media and profiles of the most popular influencers. We will check whether the advertising content is marked at all, and if so – whether it is clear and clear enough, whether it is not visible, for example only after scrolling the page or hidden under some abbreviation. We also intend to check reasons for influencer negligence, eg whether sponsors are required – included in the release.
Maffashion, Marcin Dubiel, Kruszwil and Marlena Sojka have not cooperated with the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection
As part of the actions, the head of UOKiK sent requests to several entities – the authors themselves and advertising agencies, where he requested information, for example, about the agreements concluded, the rules for cooperation and the classification of the published content.
“Unfortunately, some of the addressees did not receive the correspondence or did not answer the questions asked, and did not send the requested documents” – notifies in the advertisement Yukik.
– We interpret such behavior as a lack of cooperation with the head of the office in the course of the proceedings, for which separate financial penalties may be imposed. For this reason, proceedings have been initiated to impose a penalty for failure to provide information. We do not rule out other actions of this kind – both in relation to entrepreneurs who do not provide information in actions related to hidden advertising, and the so-called scam – says Tomasz Krustny, President of UOKiK.
Sanctions for non-cooperation in the course of the proceedings relate to four artists in business: Marek Kruszel (better known as Crosswill), Marcin Dobiel, Julia “Mavashon” Koczynska, and Marlena “Marli” Sojka.
The head of UOKiK is also checking how social networks allow users to flag sponsored content and whether it has any impact on the reach of people who do so correctly. In the opinion of the head of UOKiK, only influencers who do not tell consumers they monitor that they are promoting products or services for a fee should bear negative consequences related to limited access.
Scam under the watchful eye of UOKiK
According to the president of UOKiK In an interview with Wirtualnemedia.pl In October, after a subtle announcement, another disturbing phenomenon in the influencer marketing market that the bureau will consider is a scam.
On Monday, it was announced that Tomasz Crostiny has begun a clarification procedure in which he will check whether influencers are promoting so-called cheats.
– I launched an investigation to determine the extent to which influencers were involved in promoting the scam. We’ll check if creators check commercial collaboration offers and how they act when irregularities are discovered, including whether they opt out of product advertising or offer a fix to their followers. One cannot presumptuously decide on dubious cooperation solely for financial reasons. Every influencer must comply with the law when promoting a product or service and take responsibility for their actions, says Thomas Crostiny, president of UOKiK.
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