Agcom's crackdown on influencers, with new guidelines and the establishment of a technical table, following the Chiara Ferragni case. The Council of the Communications Guarantee Authority, "following a widely participated public consultation, unanimously approved guidelines aimed at ensuring compliance by influencers with the provisions of the Consolidated Law on Audiovisual Media Services''. "The growing relevance and diffusion of the activity of influencers, defined as individuals who create, produce and disseminate to the public audiovisual content, over which they exercise editorial responsibility, through video sharing platforms and social media, urged the Authority to intervene. The approved guidelines are an important first step". The guidelines define a set of rules aimed at influencers operating in Italy who reach at least one million followers on the various platforms or social media on which they operate and have exceeded on at least one platform or social media an average engagement rate value of 2 percent or more (i.e., who have elicited reactions from users, through comments or likes, in at least 2 percent of the content published). Attention is focused particularly on measures on "commercial communications, protection of fundamental personal rights, minors and sports values, providing a mechanism of recalls and orders aimed at the removal or adjustment of content". In the case of content with product placement, influencers are required to display a notice highlighting the "advertising nature of the content in a readily and immediately recognizable manner".
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