Italy is known to be the birthplace of Fashion. As in recent years there has been a rapid development of technology and digital marketing is on the rise, many famous fashion houses in order to promote their products, work with Influencers by concluding the so-called influencer agreements, i.e. contracts between the brand and the Influencer. The more influencer advertising gains ground, the more urgent the need to regulate the legislative framework to protect consumers from any misleading advertisements. Indeed, in Italian case law, there is a history of omission of influencers and brands to disclose the paid collaboration between them to the consumer, as for example in case n.45/2018 of 26/06/2018 of Control Committee c. Peugeot Automobili Italia S.p.A.? Newtopia S.r.l, where the famous car brand Peugeot reposted a content from the account of the famous Italian singer Fedez, where Fedez omitted to include hashtags indicating the financial relationship between them.

What laws and rules govern influencer advertising? In Italy, advertising by Influencers is regulated by:

• The Digital Chart Regulation on the recognizability of marketing communications distributed over the Internet, which requires influencers to use specific hashtags in the content they publish that has an advertising character.

• Legislative Decree 145/2007 on misleading advertising and 206/2005 of the Consumer Code on unfair commercial practices.

• The regulations of the Code of Self-Discipline of Commercial Communication of the IAP (Institute for Advertising Self-Regulation), which provides a series of obligations that influencers must comply with in the case of advertising products on social media, i.e. to disclose to the consumer that they are carrying out a commercial activity if this is not already clearly evident from the context.

The most important piece of legislation on influencer advertising is the publication of Resolution N. 7/24/CONS by the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) Resolution N. 7/24/CONS by the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM), which carries the full text of the Guidelines for the regulation of the activity of influencers with at least one million followers on the social media on which they operate As regards the advertising nature of the content published by influencers, the Resolution clarifies that in the case of content relating to commercial activity, influencers are required to indicate in writing and in a clear manner the advertising nature (e.g. via the hashtag #advertising).

We conclude that compared to Greece, Italy has taken significant steps in legislating for a more responsible and transparent influencer marketing, which not only contribute to the protection of consumers but also to the treatment of influencers as professionals. In other words, the influencer in Italy is treated as a regular profession with a commercial character worthy of legislative regulation.

For more on case  n.45/2018 of 26/06/2018 of Control Committee c. Peugeot Automobili Italia S.p.A.; Newtopia S.r.l click here 

For more on the Digital Chart Regulation regarding the readability of commercial communications disseminated via the internet, click here 

For more on the regulations of the IAP Self-Regulation Code of Commercial Communication (Institute for Advertising Self-Regulation), click here 

For more on Resolution N. 7/24/CONS click here