Irish Examiner view: We need clarity about paid influencers 

Social media users often have no idea that some famous people's posts are really bought-and-paid-for advertisements 

How can buyers beware when they don't know that something is being sold to them? That's the issue when influencers do not properly disclose that they are being paid to post about products. Stock picture

In the (very) early days of social media, one occasionally saw sports stars taken to task for blurring the lines and not stating plainly when their posts advertised products they were paid to endorse. 

Since then, the sophistication of both consumers and users of social media has grown exponentially or so one would think.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s recent findings suggest that almost half of Irish influencer advertising content is not labelled as advertising in any way.

A further 35% of influencer advertising content has issues ranging from clarity to labelling, muddying the waters even further. The commission’s research suggested that adding tags such as #advertisement or #PaidPartnership would clarify matters.

It is concerning to find such a lack of clarity about advertising online, particularly when that is such a huge driver of commercial activity. 

If those who log on are not informed that what they are seeing is an advertisement designed to separate them from their money, then it is no exaggeration to say that there is a basic dishonesty at the core of that interaction.

There is no effective defence that those peddling products can supply on their own behalf, either, by definition influence over their social media followers is the very commodity they are leveraging for their own gain.

The traditional advice in these cases was always ‘caveat emptor’, but how can the buyer beware when he or she does not know whether something is being sold to them in the first place?