• Acting in cooperation with representatives of four state institutions, the President of UOKiK has held talks with the following social media platforms: Meta, Google and TikTok.
• The roundtable meeting that was also attended by representatives of the advertising industry and the academia, focused on quicker and more effective elimination of illegal advertising.
• The event was another step towards more efficient management of the social media advertising market.

More than a year has passed since the Recommendations of the President of UOKiK concerning the labeling of commercial content in social media were first issued. Some positive changes in the behavior of influencers, the advertising industry and brands have been noticed since. As the level of awareness among consumers and social media users increases, UOKiK and other authorities receive a growing number of violation reports related not only to the manner in which ads presented online are labeled, but also to the very subject of such advertisements.

Medical products, dietary supplements, medicines, gambling or alcoholic beverages – these are just some of the examples of goods or services advertised by influencers. Not all users are fully aware that the promotion of some of these categories is restricted by law or is banned altogether. Those advertising alcohol and gambling may be subject to criminal liability. Commercial content regarding dietary supplements, medical products or medicines - just to name a few - is subject to strict restrictions as well.

Round table on influencer advertising in social media

We all recognize the dangers posed by the ever-changing social media platforms continuing to expand their reach. The short life-span of online content, the speed at which it is disseminated, as well as the reach of commercial materials published and the scale of their impact on the target audience are just some of the factors that pose significant challenges. Noticing the important role of correct labeling of commercial content and eliminating banned advertising, representatives of public institutions attending the round table meeting have formulated joint demands, submitting these to the specific social media platforms.

The round table meeting convened by the President of UOKiK was attended by representatives of Poland's three largest social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram (Meta), YouTube (Google) and TikTok. All those platforms acknowledge that while content posted on their servers must comply with their internal policies and cannot violate any national laws, the problem of advertising banned products or services continues to prevail. They have all expressed their willingness to cooperate with the applicable authorities and the industry as such to address that challenge.

During the discussion, representatives of the Office for Registration of Products, Medical Devices and Biocidal Products, the Main Sanitary Inspectorate, the Main Pharmaceutical Inspectorate and the National Revenue Administration also shared their experiences and observations. The most frequently discussed topics included campaigns promoting banned services or products that cannot be legally advertised in any manner whatsoever.

The talks could not be held without the participation of the voice of the advertising industry (iAB Poland, the Advertising Board) and academics (representatives of Warsaw University and Adam Mickiewicz University) who stressed the essential need for cooperation and exchange of experience between all market participants.

– We have adopted a systematic approach to our work on influencer marketing. We verify whether advertising content published on social media by influencers is labeled properly - by educating and conducting formalized activities. Simultaneously, we keep identifying new areas of concern, most notably related to violating the ban to advertise specific products or services, with gambling and alcohol being good examples here. These problems are reported to us by online users themselves, although it is not UOKiK's responsibility to eliminate such legal violations. The number of advertisements promoting unauthorized products would certainly be lower if the social media platforms stepped up their efforts to counter such practices and held the influencers accountable for violating the law and the social platforms' internal regulations, for instance by suspending their accounts more frequently or deleting them altogether. With that taken into consideration, we join our forces with the remaining institutions to request the social media platforms to face the challenge and quickly do away with unauthorized commercial messages and hold the content creators accountable" – said Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.  

All institutions have jointly presented arguments backing the need to strengthen oversight over social media platforms and the ads influencers publish on their servers. There is a need to come up with effective technical solutions allowing to immediately remove advertising content which violates generally applicable laws. It is worth reminding that on 17 February 2024, the provisions of the Digital Services Act – DSA [Digital Services Act] are to enter into effect.  They are expected to facilitate the elimination of illegal content and disinformation from the Internet, simultaneously holding the social media platforms accountable for their algorithms and for improving content moderation. Polish regulations in effect today, namely Article 14 of the Law on the Provision of Electronic Services, specify that data controllers should, upon receiving official notification or obtaining reliable information of the unlawful nature of the data, immediately prevent access to such data.

– We call for the introduction of an effective path for reporting legal violations on social media and for the establishment of an effective procedure for enabling the platforms to respond to the problems we have identified. Each of the institutions protecting online users has identified similar needs in its specific field of activity, noticing also the requirement for improved cooperation. It is also necessary to make better use of the tools and functionalities currently offered by the platforms, so that if something goes wrong, the platforms can actually step in to take care of their users' safety. The round table session is another step we have taken toward regulating the influencer marketing industry” – added Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

All participants of the meeting agreed that the lack of clear labeling of commercial content and unlawful ads promoting specific products and services are crucial problems faced by the digitized society, in the era of widespread access to social media. The dialog on improving specific procedures designed to exercise control over potentially unlawful advertising content has been initiated and will be continued.

The round table meeting initiated by UOKiK fits in with the overarching strategy of all authorities tasked with protecting consumer interests. On 16 October of this year, the European Commission introduced the "Influencer Legal Hub" – a tool designed to raise awareness of the legal obligations that online content publishers must comply with, and promoting the knowledge of general fair trade regulations.