DCMS Committee announces inquiry into influencer culture

UK (AND OTHERS) - ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

On 26 March 2021, the DCMS Committee launched an inquiry into “the power of influencers on social media, how influencer culture operates, and… the absence of regulation on the promotion of products or services, aside from the existing policies of individual platforms” with a view to assessing whether further regulation is required. As part of its wider activities, the DCMS Committee has obtained oral evidence from the Advertising Standards Authority ("ASA") and the Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA").

Key date(s)

• 26 March 2021 – The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (“DCMS Committee”) published a press release announcing its inquiry into influencer culture.
• 7 May 2021 – Deadline for written submissions to the DCMS Committee’s call for evidence.
• 18 January 2022 – Oral evidence session held to obtain evidence from representatives from Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
• 27 January 2022 – Oral evidence session held to obtain evidence from representatives from the ASA and CMA.

Status

• The DCMS Committee (the “Committee”) has launched an inquiry into the “the power of influencers on social media, how influencer culture operates, and… the absence of regulation on the promotion of products or services, aside from the existing policies of individual platforms”.
• The DCMS Committee invited written submissions in response to a number of questions (see below) in its call for evidence earlier this year. Several brands, regulators and influencer bodies responded, including Facebook, Youtube, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”), Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (“ISBA”) and Influencer Marketing Trade Body (“IMTB”).
• The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (“DCMS”) itself also provided a written submission to which bodies such as the IMTB responded with further comments. The key points from this submissions are summarised below.
• Since July 2021, the DCMS Committee has heard oral evidence on several topics (including the definition of the term “influencer”, influencers’ impact on pop culture, internet abuse of influencers, influencer marketing and “advertorials”, and online radicalisation through harmful content, etc.), from both industry experts and influencers themselves. The Committee’s findings are to be released in due course.

 What it hopes to achieve 

• The inquiry seeks to assess the impact of influencers, whether that is in a positive light (for example influencers who have addressed vaccine hesitancy around BAME communities) or a negative one (for example those influencers who are not transparent around the promotion of products and services) and whether there is a need for tighter regulation in this area.
• In its call for evidence, the DCMS Committee invited written submissions addressing the following queries:
  • How should 'influencers' and ‘influencer culture' be defined? Is this a new phenomenon?
  • Has 'influencing' impacted popular culture? If so, how has society and/or culture changed because of this side of social media?
  • Is it right that influencers are predominantly associated with advertising and consumerism? If not, what other roles do influencers fulfil online?
  • How are tech companies encouraging or disrupting the activities of influencing?
  • How aware are users of the arrangements between influencers and advertisers? Should policymakers, tech companies and influencers and advertisers themselves do more to ensure these arrangements are transparent?

Who does it impact? 

• The inquiry may lead to further regulation around influencers, which are likely to apply to brands and agencies as well.
• Consumers are also likely to be positively affected as any resulting regulation will boost transparency in influencer content and result in added consumer protection against misleading or harmful content.

Key points 

1. Evolving definition of influencers

• • The DCMS's written submission states that while influencers are not a new phenomenon, as digital technologies have evolved, the line between authentic content and staged content has been blurred. Additionally, the DCMS stated that, though “there are instances where influencers use their platform to advertise”, influencers should still be regarded as fulfilling a wide range of functions beyond just advertising and consumerism

2. Compliance and disclosure rules

• • The Government also highlighted that ASA’s influencer monitoring report published in March 2021 showed that there are “steadily rising complaints” related to disclosure in influencer adverts on social media, and that there is a “disappointing overall rate of compliance”.
  • However, bodies such as the IMTB have responded to the Government’s submission stating that the ASA’s latest annual report states that complaints regarding influencer posts have in fact decreased by 8%. Further, the IMTB states that “current compliance and disclosure rules are sufficient and fit-for-purpose”.

3. Harmful content on online platforms

• • The Government also flagged that social media companies will be required to identify and tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms under the new Online Safety legislation. Such harmful content, which is “legal but could cause significant physical or psychological harm to adults” may include influencer content. Under the new Bill, the most popular social media companies will be required to state how they deal with such content. The Government states that it will consult on a “range of interventions” to strengthen regulation around such online harms as part of its Online Advertising Programme.

4. Self-regulation
   • As increased regulation becomes more likely, the influencer marketing industry has sought further measures for self-regulation (e.g. the recent ISBA Code of Conduct). However, it remains to be seen whether self-regulation alone is sufficient to address the above concerns.

This blog post provides an overview of a key recent or upcoming development in digital regulation in the UK or EU as part of our horizon scanning timeline which can be found below.

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