Setting the Scene: Why Influencer Accountability Issues
The regulation and accountability of people (or entities) who could qualify as influencers will not be merely authorized points. Given their central position in right now’s digital atmosphere, influencers signify a societal, financial, and technological phenomenon whose complexity makes it difficult to succeed in clear conclusions concerning the want, route, nature, and content material of future regulation or laws. On the identical time, the safety of basic rights on-line underscores the rising want for a devoted framework that ensures accountability and defines particular tasks for influencers.
Though using public figures (resembling actors, musicians, or athletes) to advertise merchandise, providers, or concepts isn’t new, influencers now function far past conventional advertising. More and more, they enter the political and social domains, leveraging proximity, authenticity, and belief – options distinctive to social networks – to unfold concepts and values that assist specific causes or ideologies.
Due to their shut and trusted relationships with audiences, influencers are notably nicely positioned to disseminate unlawful, false or deceptive content material, whether or not deliberately or inadvertently, typically merely by ignorance of authorized or fact-checking duties.
But, regardless of this rising societal relevance, EU legislation has not but articulated a coherent reply to a easy however urgent query: who regulates affect on-line, and on what authorized foundation? Present EU and nationwide guidelines scatter accountability throughout client safety, media legislation, and digital regulation, leaving important gaps in safety and accountability.
Present authorized and regulatory loopholes on influencer accountability undermine a number of key EU goals, together with these geared toward safeguarding basic rights within the on-line atmosphere. These shortcomings name for renewed reflection on the necessity for a devoted European framework.
Current research have begun to discover this query from completely different views, starting from client legislation views to analyses of on-line speech and transparency duties. This contribution builds on that rising scholarship by framing the problem by the lens of basic rights.
This piece contributes to that debate by proposing that influencers’ actions be framed and controlled by a basic rights-based strategy. It highlights the benefits of adopting a devoted EU framework and identifies key ideas that ought to information legislators when figuring out its type and content material.
Regardless of the cross-cutting nature of the problem, the strategy adopted right here is threefold: (i) authorized; (ii) grounded in basic rights; and (iii) located inside EU legislation. This focus is especially related in gentle of contrasting paradigms governing freedom of expression in the USA, whereas nonetheless permitting for dialogue with broader educational scholarship on the subject.
Inside this rights-based framework, the evaluation explores doable constitutional foundations for addressing two primary questions: (i) whether or not a brand new framework is critical (“if”) and (ii) what its scope and construction needs to be (“how”). Given the distinctive relationship of belief between influencers and their audiences, and the ensuing vulnerability of the latter, the target dimension of basic rights supplies a foundation for deriving duties of safety.
The article weblog publish thus presents an authentic contribution by explicitly linking influencer accountability to the safety of basic rights, an angle nonetheless underexplored in present EU authorized scholarship.
A Paradigm Shift: Why Present EU Guidelines Fall Quick
The primary query underlying the necessity for a devoted framework issues the the explanation why influencer exercise requires regulation.
A basic paradigm shift has occurred: influencers now form not solely what individuals purchase but additionally what they consider and the way they behave. Their affect extends far past the financial sphere into the social and political domains, reshaping public discourse itself.
This transformation additionally redefines who counts as an “influencer” (for an outline of definitions, see “The impression of influencers on promoting and client safety within the Single Market”). The class is not confined to conventional celebrities. It now consists of people who’ve constructed audiences by content material creation round common or area of interest subjects, in addition to new entities resembling AI-generated “digital influencers”, “animal influencers”, and different non-human “personas”. These developments increase new and sophisticated questions on who ought to fall inside the scope of regulation.
Not like conventional media figures, who usually function inside a selected jurisdiction, (new) influencers act throughout borders. This cross-border actuality creates important competence and enforcement challenges inside the EU. It raises the query of whether or not a devoted regulatory framework needs to be established on the EU or Member State stage, and the way jurisdiction needs to be dealt with for influencers primarily based in third nations.
Briefly, the character and scope of affect have advanced, however the legislation has not stored tempo. The next part examines why present EU devices are inadequate to make sure accountability and coherence throughout the Union.
A Rights-Based mostly Case for a Devoted Regulatory Framework
The query of whether or not a selected regulatory framework for influencers is critical doesn’t overlook the existence of a number of probably relevant EU devices. These embody the Audiovisual Media Companies Directive (AVMSD), the Unfair Industrial Practices Directive (UCPD), the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), and, extra just lately, the Digital Companies Act (DSA) and the AI Act. Every already accommodates provisions that may apply to influencers, setting limits to their “freedom of affect” on-line.
Students stay divided on whether or not these frameworks suffice (see, specifically, Wiszniewska, 2025). Nonetheless, many essential points nonetheless fall outdoors their scope. A rights-based justification for a extra protecting and coherent strategy stems from recurring dangers resembling (i) hidden promoting and lack of transparency; (ii) the safety of minors, each as audiences and as influencers themselves (together with points like sharenting); (iii) the safety of socio-economically susceptible customers; and (iv) the dissemination of disinformation and dangerous content material on-line.
These vulnerabilities assist the adoption of a selected and autonomous EU framework for influencers, distinct from conventional areas resembling client or media legislation (see, specifically, the decision for proof on the Digital Equity Act).
In apply, this regulatory hole has already prompted the emergence of a patchwork of binding laws, gentle legislation, co-regulation and self-regulation throughout Member States. These embody nationwide communications, codes of conduct, and pointers clarifying influencers’ tasks. But, this very proliferation of norms strengthens the argument for EU-level motion to keep away from fragmentation, authorized uncertainty, and unequal safety.
A harmonised EU framework would supply readability, proportionality, and effectiveness, guaranteeing consistency between nationwide and Union ranges. It will additionally handle the restrictions of self- and co-regulation whereas recognising the phenomenon’s cross-cutting nature – relating client safety, media legislation, information safety, taxation, monetary legislation,mental property, and competitors legislation.
To stay devoted to a rights-based strategy, such regulation should embody safeguards that stop disproportionate restrictions on influencers’ freedom of motion. The substance of any new guidelines (i.e., the duties and obligations imposed) ought to due to this fact be assessed in gentle of the precept of proportionality, balancing competing basic rights.
This proportionality should already be seen in defining who qualifies as an “influencer” and in figuring out their rights and obligations. Whereas a broad definition is required to seize the total scope of affect – together with political and micro-influence past industrial affect -, obligations ought to comply with a tiered mannequin, impressed by the DSA. This may permit obligations to differ in accordance with viewers dimension, attain, engagement, content material sort, sector, and stage {of professional} or industrial exercise.
Such a mannequin would protect the liberty to conduct a enterprise (for an outline of its nature as a basic proper, see Neves, p. 149ff.) and the liberty to speak and create on-line whereas guaranteeing accountability proportional to affect.
Harmonising Affect: In direction of a European-Vast Regulatory Strategy
Having established the rationale for a devoted framework, consideration should flip to essentially the most acceptable stage of intervention inside the EU authorized order.
Member States have a longstanding custom of defending basic rights, usually centred on the State as the first guarantor of such duties. Their approaches to regulating promoting media, or particular merchandise (resembling alcohol or playing) additionally differ considerably, reflecting numerous nationwide cultures and authorized traditions.
Nonetheless, there are sturdy – and more and more persuasive – arguments for EU-level competence. Influencer actions are inherently cross-border, working inside a digital ecosystem that transcends nationwide boundaries. This cross-border nature requires harmonisation, authorized certainty, and coordinated enforcement.
An EU strategy would additionally allow the sharing of assets, expertise, and greatest practices amongst nationwide authorities, whereas guaranteeing that rights and obligations are utilized persistently all through the Union.
Furthermore, the EU already has expertise with versatile, layered regulatory fashions that may very well be tailored to this context. The DSA, as an example, balances self-regulation, co-regulation, and public oversight, offering a precedent for a dynamic and proportionate governance construction for influencer accountability.
But, from a competence perspective, any future EU framework on influencer accountability would most probably depend on Article 114 TFEU as its authorized foundation, following the mannequin of the DSA and the AVMSD. Nonetheless, latest scholarship has raised issues concerning the more and more dominant reliance on Article 114 TFEU for digital-market laws and the absence of an express digital competence within the Treaties.
From a constitutional standpoint, EU motion is each suitable with and required by a rights-based strategy. For the reason that adoption of the Constitution of Elementary Rights, the Union has advanced right into a political and normative actor liable for fulfilling optimistic duties of safety derived from these rights. Laws stays the first instrument for safeguarding them.
Due to this fact, the EU isn’t solely legitimised however arguably obliged to behave (see Neves, pp. 13-14).
Whereas many questions stay open – such because the definition of “influencer”, the framework’s substantive content material (together with restrictions on delicate content material, contractual transparency, due diligence, and the safety of susceptible people), and its utility to the broader ecosystem of businesses, manufacturers, and platforms – this evaluation supplies a basis for additional debate.
In designing such a framework, legislators should additionally take into account proportionate enforcement mechanisms. Expertise throughout Member States reveals each the strengths and limitations of present approaches. There are sturdy causes to favour dialogue-based and academic fashions over purely punitive programs, fostering a tradition of accountability reasonably than concern.
Reframing Influencer Accountability within the On-line Atmosphere
The reflections introduced right here goal to contribute to an rising European discourse on influencer accountability. By situating influencer regulation inside a basic rights-based framework, this piece has outlined how accountability will be reframed in a method that ensures proportionality, coherence, and equity.
Admittedly, at a time when a extra “deregulatory” reform agenda is into consideration, advancing a proposal which may seem extra attribute of an interventionist state could appear paradoxical. But the central concern stays the safeguarding of basic rights each of influencers and of their audiences. As such, the strategy proposed right here retains its relevance inside a social market financial system and inside a “media welfare state” dedicated to the safety of rights with out dropping sight of the significance of innovation.
Finally, constructing a European authorized structure for influencer accountability isn’t merely about regulating content material creation or industrial promotion. It’s about guaranteeing that the ecosystem of affect evolves according to the elemental rights and democratic values that underpin the European challenge.
Because the EU continues to legislate for the digital age, influencer accountability needs to be recognised as a core part of the Union’s broader technique to advertise belief, transparency, and accountability on-line.
Inês Neves
PhD in Legislation. Invited Assistant Professor on the School of Legislation of the College of Porto (Portugal). Built-in Researcher at CIJ – Centre for Interdisciplinary Analysis on Justice. Affiliate at CEJURE – Portuguese State Authorized Centre. Member of the Disciplinary Board of the Portuguese Soccer Federation – Skilled Part (since February 2025). Lawyer within the areas of European Legislation and Competitors, Sustainability and ESG, and Digital Regulation (Synthetic Intelligence, Markets and Digital Companies). She undertook a number of instructing mobility placements beneath the Erasmus+ programme and recurrently participates as a speaker at conferences and different scientific occasions, being the creator of a number of nationwide and worldwide publications.
