In the "crosshairs" of the national tax authorities, as well as the competition and consumer protection authorities, are the... influencers who deal with the promotion or sale of products, using their image.
In particular, the Authorities are going to "dust off" the accounts of influencers in order to establish whether those who market products do so transparently and following the procedure provided for in European legislation.
As the European Commission states in a relevant press release, those influencers who are involved "in regular commercial activity, such as agreements to advertise products or services, are considered traders under EU law", which is why they are required to transparently disclose these transactions .
The logic behind the upcoming controls is this: in conventional advertising, there is a code of good practice that defines what an advertiser can and cannot do. In theory, such rules also apply to online advertising, including the practices of influencers, but they need safeguards to ensure that unfair competition is not created.
In this direction, the Influencer Legal Hub has been created, which aims to help industry professionals to understand the rules that govern their activities.
Influencers can learn, among other things, their legal obligations (when, where and how they must disclose their advertising activities on social media) and what rights consumers have when purchasing products or services directly from them.
According to information, the national Authorities have the right to proceed with checks on the accounts, as the companies that host them (Meta etc.) have signed a code of good practices with the European Union.