Parliament calls for better scrutiny of influencer market

The DCMS inquiry into influencers highlights risk but ignores its potential. I spoke to the Influencer Marketing Trade Body’s Scott Guthrie about the report.

The Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee (DCMS) investigation into influencer culture in the UK has concluded with the publication of a report Influencer culture: Lights, camera, inaction?

The committee, which started its work in March 2021, heard evidence from influencers, talent agencies, marketing, organisations, trade associations, academics, regulators, government ministers and the four major social media platforms, Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter.

It’s good that Parliament is focusing attention on the burgeoning sector, however its analysis focuses on areas of risk and fails to recognise the opportunities for the influencer market to create value.

The report is a damning read on a fast growing and emerging part of the creative sector.

"As influencer marketing professionalises so Parliament is keen to ensure our discipline sticks to the same rules as all other marketing channels. That is fair and right. As with other marketing channels influencer marketing needs to do more to protect the young and the vulnerable and to ensure society is accurately reflected through diversity, equity, inclusion and pay parity,” said Scott Guthrie, Influencer Marketing Trade Body.

“We are already making big steps towards affecting these changes. The report downplays the opportunities within influencer marketing, however. Ours is an industry doubled in size since 2019. It’s thirtyfold the size it was just seven years ago. The UK is the third-largest market globally providing significant benefits to the UK economy.”

What is an influencer?

The market for influencers has grown up around individuals who have utilised social media to create content and develop online communities around their work and interests.

As the leaders of often small, niche and trusting communities, influencers can offer targeted and effective marketing services. Influencer marketing is therefore offering a lucrative opportunity for brands and advertisers as well as influencers.

The rapid growth of this marketplace, both in scale and in technical innovation, has outpaced the capabilities of UK advertising regulation. Updates to the enforcement powers of the Competition and Markets Authority and Advertising Standards Authority are urgently needed to prevent further damage to consumer trust.

Influencer is an insecure occupation

The report suggests social media influencing is perceived as a glamorous occupation and is becoming a popular career choice for young people. However, the committee said that that the career of influencers as part of the freelance economy is beset by diversity issues, pay disparities, and a pervasive lack of employment support and protection.

The report recognises that behind the camera, influencing is a challenging career, made more challenging by the lack of developed support from the surrounding ecosystem of platforms, regulators, talent agencies and brands.

Many of the influencers who spoke to the committee said that they face significant online abuse and trolling. The major social media platforms have bullying and harassment policies in place that allow users to self-report content that contravenes their community standards. However these do not work.

The committee recommends that the Government make additions to the Online Safety Bill to require platforms to implement robust reporting and complaints mechanisms.

Addressing child protection

The report identifies a serious lack of protection for children, both as consumers of influencer content and as influencers themselves. Influencer content is popular among children, but advertisement regulations do not appropriately consider their developing digital literacy.

It also suggests that child labour protections do not encompass user generated content and that child influencers may be at risk of exploitation.

“The Influencer Marketing Trade Body called for better protection of children in its written evidence to the Inquiry. But, influencer content can have a positive effect on children. Ofcom tells us children turn to influencers because they don’t see themselves or their interests effectively represented on other communication channels including television," said Guthrie.

Influencer culture: Lights, camera, inaction concludes that it is vital that the Government address these regulatory gaps with tailored legislation to ensure that the online environment and the opportunities it presents remain safe and accessible for children.

Online advertising consultation

The Department for Media, Culture and Sport is currently running a consultation on online advertising covering the market, harms caused my online advertising, and regulation. The closing date for responses is 1 June 2022.