Influencers promoting sustainable lifestyles on social media should be regulated differently, study says

The work of influencers promoting sustainable lifestyles on social media should be regulated differently so that consumers are better protected, a new study says.

There are gaps in current and future EU consumer protection measures put in place to govern the trading practices of content creators promoting sustainable products and services, according to explorativewhich appears in Journal of Consumer Policy.

Communicating authentically but connected to sustainable lifestyles on social media can go a long way CUSTOMERS and contribute to changing their behavior patterns. This includes de-influencers, who encourage people to buy different, greener or more responsibly produced items.

The recommendations in the study are designed to allow content creators to maintain their freedom of speech and conduct their businesses.

They include changing regulations to clarify the legal status of content creators as professionals when they are paid for the work. This would provide more legal certainty and facilitate the provision of additional training for them legal rights and obligations, and creating codes of conduct.

The study says that, provided content creators simply repeat consistent claims made to them by brands, and that they have no reasonable grounds to doubt the veracity of such claims, brands can be held liable for any misinformation and not the influencer. This would change if content creators had more creative control over communicating with their audience and crafting their own consistent claims.

Professor Joasia Luzak, from the University of Exeter, who carried out the study, said: “How and what influencers communicate with their users will be influenced by the social media platforms they use and their relationships with the brands they represent. When they receive marketing materials for a product they have to promote, they may not always be able to question and verify this product information.

“Content creators may inadvertently misinform their followers simply because they do not have access to relevant information. However, unreliable content may also reflect a lack of due diligence.”

Current rules state that influencers cannot mislead consumers by action or omission. They can be held responsible for breaching the guidelines alone or together with the brand they represented. The guidelines should apply when content creators’ commercial activities are “frequent” on their social media channels.

The research says that this frequency requirement is not appropriate to apply to the activities of content creators. It does not account for content creators who spread their activity between different social media channels, or non-monetary content. The frequency requirement also ignores the fact that even a commercial post can cause consumer harm.

The study says it would be preferable to remove the suggested “frequent” posting requirement of monetized content for content creators to qualify as marketers engaging in commercial practices.

Creating online content should be considered a professional activity, regardless of the commercial benefit enjoyed by influencers. Instead, the commercial purpose driving the communication should be the determining factor. Registration of such professional activity in the Member States would be required, otherwise content creators would likely remain free of the obligations imposed by the current European consumer protection.

The option to hold content creators accountable alongside brands gives consumers more options to seek compensation for their harm.

The EU Green Transition Directive prohibits marketers from misleading consumers about the sustainability or repairability of products, or about their environmental or social impact. Since sustainable campaigners often mention these characteristics, any content creator who qualifies as a marketer will need to ensure that they, or the marketers who provide them with promotional material, can actually justify such claims.