A UK consumer watchdog has told celebrity ‘influencers’ that they must disclose paid endorsements or they could be fined or even sentenced to up to two years in prison. 

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) identified 16 people with millions of followers – including Rita Ora, Ellie Goulding and Michelle Keegan – as having been at risk of breaking the law. They were warned that it must be made clear when they are being paid or rewarded to advertise products on their social media.

Users can see whether a product is being endorsed through hashtags such as #ad or #sponsored, however it must be clearly visible (not hidden amongst many tags) and it is not enough to simply state on their profiles that they are brand ambassadors.

The CMA opened up the probe last August to see whether influencers were acting as ordinary consumers with no financial interest in the products or services they were using. Undisclosed advertisements are illegal.

The watchdog has since published a quick guide for social media influencers on how to manage their endorsements. Warning letters have also been sent to unnamed users by the CMA urging them to change their practices.

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said in a statement: “Influencers can have a huge impact on what their fans decide to buy. People could, quite rightly, feel misled if what they thought was a recommendation from someone they admired turns out to be a marketing ploy.”

He also said the CMA’s mission to make advertising on social media more transparent should eventually mean that people will “be able to tell as soon as you look at a post if there is some form of payment or reward involved, so you can decide whether something is really worth spending your hard-earned money on”.

“People could, quite rightly, feel misled if what they thought was a recommendation from someone they admired turns out to be a marketing ploy.”

Here are the 16 who have been named:

  1. Rita Ora
  2. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
  3. Michelle Keegan
  4. Millie Mackintosh
  5. Ellie Goulding
  6. Megan McKenna
  7. Holly Hagan
  8. Alexa Chung
  9. Binky Felstead
  10. Iskra Lawrence
  11. Louise Thompson
  12. Dina Torkia
  13. Chloe Sims
  14. Jim Chapman
  15. Zoella
  16. Mario Falcone

Featured photos via Instagram

*City News is not suggesting that the influencers were breaking any rules in these posts.