Influencers told by consumer watchdog to use ‘ad’ and ‘gifted’ hashtags in posts

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) have issued new guidance to social media influencers telling them they must use the hashtags “#ad” and “#gifted” in their commercial posts as other labels may be too confusing.

The CCPC, which is the State’s consumer watchdog, and the ASAI, which is the self-regulatory body for the advertising industry, said the “primary labels” used should be “#ad” for paid promotions and “#gifted” for posts about items received for free and on an unsolicited basis from brands and public relations agencies.

Abbreviations such as “sp” — meaning ”sponsored” — are not always readily understood, it said.

The new guidance coincides with the start today of a major month-long review or “sweep” of influencer content conducted by the European Commission and national authorities, including the CCPC.

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The joint guidance was developed following research involving the use of eye-tracking technology, which was deployed to monitor the gaze of 30 Instagram users. A survey of 500 regular users of the Meta-owned social media platform was also conducted.

The guidance reminds influencers that hashtags must be instantly visible to consumers, that posts about influencers’ own brands must also be labelled as advertising and that the #ad hashtag — or #fógra in the case of Irish-language posts — should be used instead of phrases such as #IWorkWith or #OwnBrand.

It states that “influencer” should be regarded as interchangeable with terms such as content creator, blogger, vlogger, celebrity, online personality and media personality and that the rules apply to anyone who promotes or recommends products or services on social media for either a monetary or non-monetary benefit.

“It is an offence to mislead a consumer, and influencers who fail to comply with Ireland’s consumer protection legislation may be subject to enforcement action up to and including prosecution,” said Kevin O’Brien, a member of the commission.

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Although no CCPC enforcement actions have been taken against influencers to date, the regulator has ramped up its attention on this area of marketing in recent times.

Almost half of advertising by social media influencers is untagged or poorly tagged, while consumers overestimate their ability to recognise such ads, research published by the CCPC last December found.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to question if and when they are being advertised to — it should be instantly clear,” said ASAI chief executive Orla Twomey.

“This new joint guidance will continue to improve compliance in influencer marketing, and consumer awareness and understanding in this area.”

The two organisations said a programme of engagement was planned to ensure influencers were “fully equipped to comply with their responsibilities under the law”.