#UnderTheInfluencer - Instagram users urged to stay vigilant against false advertising
Instagram's UK watchdog says many Influencers are 'not getting it right' when promoting products
Last updated 5th May 2021
Instagram users across the country are being urged to stay vigilant against content from Influencers, after a comprehensive study into promotional posts.
More than 24,000 Instagram Stories, across 122 UK-based Influencers, were assessed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Around one in four of these Stories were considered to be adverts. Of these, only 35% were clearly labelled as such.
The social media watchdog says the proportion of Influencers "sticking to the rules" is "far below" its expectation.
What's the problem here?
Since Instagram was founded a decade ago, brands have increasingly opted to promote their products via people with a significant following on the app.
Influencer marketing can be chosen when companies want more engagement with their adverts, often at the expense of traditional forms of media.
However, some online celebrities have faced punishment for failing to disclose paid content on their Instagram profile - otherwise known as false advertising.
Where this occurs, there have been fears that followers may incorrectly believe that a product is being promoted for its quality alone and therefore think more favourably of it.
The ASA has been cracking-down on consumers being deceived in such a way over recent years, receiving more than 3,000 complaints on the issue during 2020 alone.
With Instagram being highly popular amongst younger audiences, who are arguably more likely to be misled, the issue is more pertinent now than ever.
Where Influencers have been sponsored to advertise products on their profiles, the ASA says this must be "clearly" indicated.
They can either include "#ad" in the post's caption, or indicate the product is being endorsed as part of a "paid partnership" with the brand.
As our #UnderTheInfluencer campaign continues, we have discussed the findings of the report with the ASA.
Jessica Tye - Operations Manager of its Investigations Team - says Influencers have little excuse, as the watchdog has published "really clear guidance":
'They're not getting it right too often'
Whilst the ASA cannot fine brands and Influencers who are guilty of rule breaching, it does work with what it calls "legal backstops" which can enforce punishments. These include Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority.
"There's quite a lot of policing going on in the community. We see increasingly followers and fellow Influencers calling people out, when they see practice that they don't think is fair and is going to mislead," Jessica told Hits Radio.
"Ultimately you might be subject to an ASA ruling and all the negative publicity that results from that.
"Reputation is really important to Influencers ... if they damage that by not clearly labelling ads and people see that and lose trust then that's bad for them, as well as being bad for their followers".
The ASA has recognised that some Influencers who featured in the monitoring exercise had at least attempted to signpost ads.
Jessica added: "We don't think it's necessarily the case that Influencers are setting out to mislead, but they're certainly not getting it right too often and that is a concern for us".
'We want people on Instagram to be transparent'
In response, Facebook - which owns Instagram - has told us it wants Influencers to be "transparent" when being sponsored to post photos and videos on the platform.
"We have made a number of updates to help educate and support people to be transparent about paid content on Instagram, including developing technology to help make people aware when they may be posting Branded Content," a Facebook company spokesperson added.
Over the coming days, Hits Radio's #UnderTheInfluencer campaign will delve deeper into the pitfalls of the Influencing industry - for producers and consumers alike.