Let influencers face the limits of their influence
1 min read . Updated: 20 Feb 2023, 01:34 AM IST
PremiumA brazen attack on cricketer Prithvi Shaw and his companion by online influencers revealed a sense of impunity long prevalent on social media, sadly. The law must prevail everywhere
It was perhaps Leo Tolstoy who wrote that only an arrogant person considers himself perfect. Conversely, those harbouring delusions of self-perfection might also be actively courting arrogance. The attack on cricketer Prithvi Shaw and a companion by a bunch of online ‘influencers’, who were reportedly so incensed when the sportsman refused repeated requests for selfies that they smashed his car and set upon him, illustrates how some social-media users assume their stomping ground lies beyond the reach of societal norms and Indian laws. Such influencers occupy the grey zone between legit and not-so-legit on social media; they monetize their vast army of followers by shilling for various brands, often without disclosing receipt of monetary compensation for it. Many individuals on social media with a large number of followers—often running into millions—now have formal structures for selling their audiences. Advertisers also find that conveying messages through influencers is cheaper than traditional media, even if rules and norms are thrown to the wind. From there to misleading advertisements or unfair trade practices is but a short step.
An informal estimate by the government offers a measure of their success: India’s social media influencer market touched $157 million in 2022. This is expected to more than double in the next couple of years. Regulation, as always, initially trailed developments, but has finally caught up. The department of consumer affairs under the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution recently issued guidelines for celebrities and influencers endorsing third-party products and services. These focus on their need to make adequate and visible disclosures, especially material links with advertisers, with violations inviting financial penalties. These new rules complement influencer guidelines issued in June 2021 by the Advertising Standards Council of India.
The government’s guidelines are belated but required. Regulations are the guard-rails for any efficient marketplace, even though many e-entrepreneurs bristle at the thought of any oversight or market intervention. The need for regulation is most urgent in the digital finance world, where the mis-selling of loans, insurance products or even investment ideas has acquired nightmarish proportions. There have been instances of unscrupulous company promoters hiring small-time actors to artificially inflate stocks of dubious provenance, only to disappear after the pump-and-dump operation is complete. Digital lenders, insurance intermediaries and others have engaged celebrities or influencers to sell financial products to their audiences on social media. Their use of online platforms let them side-step mandatory disclosures or disclaimers, but media rules designed for print and television have finally been applied to social media as well. There is one significant piece in this jigsaw puzzle that will require some government coordination: the social media platforms themselves. These entities will have to start initiating first-order regulatory action against errant influencers and celebrities, much like how stock exchanges discharge a quasi-regulatory role before the super regulator steps in. Platforms have so far been reluctant to act. This must change. None of them can claim immunity from the legal framework of the country in which they operate, even though many of them have their headquarters overseas. The same goes for influencers, regardless of their popularity and self-regard.