The European Union is preparing to strengthen rules governing what influencers can promote online, with weight-loss injections and cosmetic surgery among the categories drawing direct scrutiny, Ireland’s EU Commissioner stated.
As reported by the Irish Mirror, Michael McGrath, the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, said the area “requires strengthening” when asked whether the EU could do more to address influencers promoting potentially dangerous products and services. McGrath is leading the upcoming Digital Fairness Act, expected later this year, which aims to tackle misleading Influencer Marketing across all member states.
“We do believe that that is an area that requires strengthening,” McGrath told reporters in Strasbourg, France. “I think the least the consumers deserve is to know that there is an underlying commercial transaction at play, and yes, we are also looking at the substance and the content of what is being promoted.”
The Commission’s concern centers on products and services promoted to children, including plastic surgery, gambling services, risky financial products, alcohol, and tobacco. There is currently no exhaustive list of items influencers are barred from advertising within the EU. France has already moved on part of this ground: three years ago, it enacted a law prohibiting influencers from promoting cosmetic surgery and aesthetic medical procedures.
McGrath described the Digital Fairness Act as the “most significant” piece of EU consumer protection legislation in the past 15 to 20 years. Beyond Influencer Marketing, he said it will address dark patterns that mislead or pressure users into decisions and addictive product designs that encourage compulsive use or overspending.
One area the act will not cover is family influencers who feature their children in monetized content. McGrath said that falls outside the act’s scope. “I don’t see that being an area that we would regulate within the Digital Fairness Act,” he said. “It’s important that consumers who are seeing influencer activity understand what it is and that there is a commercial reality underpinning and driving that promotion or advertisement.” He added that existing privacy laws, including GDPR, already apply, but said involving children in monetized content “is very much a matter for themselves” for parents to decide.
The Digital Fairness Act builds on the groundwork laid last year. A European Parliamentary Research Service briefing outlined plans for the act to cover misleading Influencer Marketing, dark patterns, addictive design and unfair personalization practices, and to clarify responsibilities across the influencer marketing value chain after a 2024 fitness check of EU consumer law found “a certain degree of legal uncertainty.” A 2024 coordinated sweep of 576 influencers across major platforms found that while 97% posted commercial content, only about 20% systematically disclosed it as advertising, and one in five promoted products with consumer-protection implications, including medical or aesthetic treatments, junk food, alcohol, gambling and financial services.
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
The European Union is preparing to strengthen rules governing what influencers can promote online, with weight-loss injections and cosmetic surgery among the categories drawing direct scrutiny, Ireland’s EU Commissioner stated.
As reported by the Irish Mirror, Michael McGrath, the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, said the area “requires strengthening” when asked whether the EU could do more to address influencers promoting potentially dangerous products and services. McGrath is leading the upcoming Digital Fairness Act, expected later this year, which aims to tackle misleading Influencer Marketing across all member states.
“We do believe that that is an area that requires strengthening,” McGrath told reporters in Strasbourg, France. “I think the least the consumers deserve is to know that there is an underlying commercial transaction at play, and yes, we are also looking at the substance and the content of what is being promoted.”
The Commission’s concern centers on products and services promoted to children, including plastic surgery, gambling services, risky financial products, alcohol, and tobacco. There is currently no exhaustive list of items influencers are barred from advertising within the EU. France has already moved on part of this ground: three years ago, it enacted a law prohibiting influencers from promoting cosmetic surgery and aesthetic medical procedures.
McGrath described the Digital Fairness Act as the “most significant” piece of EU consumer protection legislation in the past 15 to 20 years. Beyond Influencer Marketing, he said it will address dark patterns that mislead or pressure users into decisions and addictive product designs that encourage compulsive use or overspending.
One area the act will not cover is family influencers who feature their children in monetized content. McGrath said that falls outside the act’s scope. “I don’t see that being an area that we would regulate within the Digital Fairness Act,” he said. “It’s important that consumers who are seeing influencer activity understand what it is and that there is a commercial reality underpinning and driving that promotion or advertisement.” He added that existing privacy laws, including GDPR, already apply, but said involving children in monetized content “is very much a matter for themselves” for parents to decide.
The Digital Fairness Act builds on the groundwork laid last year. A European Parliamentary Research Service briefing outlined plans for the act to cover misleading Influencer Marketing, dark patterns, addictive design and unfair personalization practices, and to clarify responsibilities across the influencer marketing value chain after a 2024 fitness check of EU consumer law found “a certain degree of legal uncertainty.” A 2024 coordinated sweep of 576 influencers across major platforms found that while 97% posted commercial content, only about 20% systematically disclosed it as advertising, and one in five promoted products with consumer-protection implications, including medical or aesthetic treatments, junk food, alcohol, gambling and financial services.
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