Latest reports suggest that the center is set to issue guidelines for social media influencers. These guidelines will require them to reveal their endorsement deals. They’ll have to mention their collaborations with respective brands. Moreover, it’ll be mandatory for them to disclose whether the collaboration with the respective company is paid.
An official source confirmed that the Consumer Affairs ministry has drafted the guidelines for influencers. The guidelines will mention all the dos and don’ts of collaborating with a brand and endorsing its products.
“The department of consumer affairs is coming out with guidelines on social media influencers. It is creating do’s and don’ts for them. Social media influencers, who have large followers on social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube, are endorsing products after taking payments from the brands. As per the proposed guidelines, if social media influencers endorse any brand after taking money, they will have to declare their association with that brand,” said the official source.
Moreover, the chairperson of the central consumer protection authority, Nidhi Khare talked about the need for such a policy. “We felt that in today’s digital world there are a lot of social influencers who are involved in the advertising of a product or a service and their role also needs to be delineated and brought under aspect.”
She also added, “The influencers must provide disclaimers and will be treated as an endorser. Any violation will result in penalties starting from INR 10 lakh. We will be bringing in technological tools which will crawl into these digital creations and then depending on these violations such incidents can be reported.” These policies will be released in the public domain within a couple of weeks.