Identifying the Commercial Nature of 'Influencer Marketing' on the Internet

This article analyses the legal implications when traders use private individuals to promote their products on the Internet through blogs, social media, podcasts etc. The focus is on laws concerning the identification of the commercial nature of information as found in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the E-Commerce Directive. In the RLvS judgment it was found that the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive does not apply to sponsored content in newspapers. In that vein, it is discussed to which extent this decision affects editorial content produced by influencers. It is also discussed to which extent influencers can be independently liable for their commercial practices and to which extent traders may be liable for activities carried out by the influencer.