German High Court Requires Paid Influencers To Label Posts As Advertisements

Influencers on Instagram should include ad code in ad posts. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - The High Court in Germany ruled on Thursday, September 9, that social media influencers who receive money from companies to promote their products, must now clearly label the post as an advertisement.

But a German federal court also ruled that if influencers are not paid, they can display products without advertising labels. This refers in the case of three influencers on social media sites Facebook and Instagram.

Influencers with thousands of followers can get huge payments from companies to promote products on Instagram.

The court said one fitness influencer should have made it clear that he was advertising when he was being paid to promote a jam brand.

However, they dismissed the case against television presenter and influencer Cathy Hummels, whose posts about stuffed toys have led people to the manufacturer's website. He had not been paid for the promotion and was therefore under no obligation to label it as an advertisement, the court ruled.

Instagram last year reached an agreement with Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to crack down on hidden advertising by influencers on its photo and video platform. This is very complicated and complex, because it will be connected with many things like advertising tax!

In Indonesia itself, until now, this has not been regulated. There are still many influencers on Instagram or Youtube who are free to walk around without paying advertising taxes, even though they are paid when doing promotions for clients. In fact, they don't even label posts endorsed by certain companies as advertisements.