Government meets influencers to tighten self-regulation to curb misleading ads

Advertisements by influencers are being closely tracked by Department of Consumer Affairs.

The government, which released endorsement guidelines for social-media influencers in January, is meeting some of them on April 19 to address the issue of misleading advertisements.

Department of consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said during a media roundtable that the ministry would meet with 40-50 influencers and ask them to tighten self-regulation.

Also read: Social media influencers to attract up to Rs 50 lakh fine for flouting rules

"There is heavy set of advertising going on social media by the influencers. We came out with the guidelines few months back, which talk about disclosing material benefit if they are endorsing a product,” he said.

Health and wellness influencers have to disclose their qualification. “The uninformed preaching by influencers can do harm, especially to young generation who are susceptible to these advice by content creators," Singh said, while addressing a media query on the recent Bournvita controversy.

Also read: Bournvita controversy a wake-up call for Big Food

An influencer was forced to delete an Instagram Reel after he read out the label of Bounrvita and said it had “high levels of added sugar”.

Investment-related advice was another category the the department was tracking closely. "Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) both have issued guidelines. We will incorporate Sebi's guidelines in ours," he said.

Also read: Scientist calls Cadbury Bournvita's claims misleading: 'The high sugar content...'

The department didn’t want to penalise the influencers, which was why they had called a meeting with the influencers.

"Influencers should be be responsible on what they endorse. When your are a celebrity people trust you. And one should not misuse their influence power," he added.

The guidelines, released earlier this year, propose a fine of Rs 10 lakh on offenders, which can go up to Rs 50 lakh for repeated offences.

Influencers can be barred from endorsing products for up to six years in case of repeated non-compliance with the guidelines.

Also read: ASCI comes up with guidelines, but do they have the teeth to make brands and influencers fall in line?

Guidelines makes disclosures mandatory and they should be displayed prominently and “extremely hard to miss” with the endorsement messages.

The influencers should be able to substantiate the claims made by them. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides the framework for the protection of consumers against unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.

The product and service must have been actually used or experienced by the endorser, the department said, adding that consumers can seek legal actions against those defaulting.