These new guidelines have been issued by the Department of Consumers Affairs, which released ‘Endorsement Know Hows for celebrities, influencers and virtual media influencers (Avatar or computer generated character) on social media platforms.’

New Rules For Social Media Influencers: The government has rolled out a new set of rules for social media influencers to curb misleading advertisements as well as protect the interests of consumers. The government, Friday, made it mandatory for all social media influencers to disclose all “material” interests such as gifts, hotel accommodation, equity, discounts and awards when endorsing any products, services or scheme. Failure to do so will attract hefty fines.

These new guidelines have been issued by the Department of Consumers Affairs, which released ‘Endorsement Know Hows for celebrities, influencers and virtual media influencers (Avatar or computer generated character) on social media platforms.’

Endorsement Know-Hows: New Rules, Guidelines, Fines And More

1. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) can impose a penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh on manufacturers, advertisers and endorsers.
2. For subsequent offences, penalty of up to Rs 50 lakh can be imposed.
3. The CCPA can prohibit the endorser of a misleading ad from making any endorsement for up to 1 year and for subsequent contravention, prohibition can extend up to 3 years.
4. The disclosures should be in simple and clear language, should be of a duration that is hard to miss, must be run with endorsements, including live streams and should be platform agnostic.
5. The disclosure should happen “when there is a material connection between an advertiser and celebrity/influencer that may affect the weight or credibility of the representation made by the celebrity/influencer.
6. In an endorsement of a picture, disclosures should be superimposed over the image enough for viewers to notice.
7. The video, disclosures should be placed in the video and not just in the description and they should be made in both audio and video format.
8. In the case of a live stream, disclosures should be displayed continuously and prominently during the entire stream.

Who Comes Under The Ambit Of New Rules

Individuals/groups who have access to an audience and the power to affect their audiences’ purchasing decisions or opinions about a product, service, brand or experience, because of the influencer’s/celebrity’s authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with their audience will have to disclose.