Influencer must label non-paid posts on Instagram as advertising: all about this last tribunal decision of the Cologne Higher Regional Court (Judgment v. 19.02.2021, Ref. 6 U 103/20).
In a recent decision, the Cologne Higher Regional Court (OLG) confirmed that a social media influencer must indicate posts on Instagram as advertising, even if she/he has not received payment for the post.
The courts of instance comes to different conclusions on the question of whether influencers must label their unpaid posts as advertising and in the final decision, the Cologne Higher Regional Court presents various interesting arguments. Influencers followed by many people are able to communicate to many people at the same time and even if the scope of their posts was not to be considered of “commercial nature”, a commercial act is present by advertising for a specific product even if the trademark in question is not aware of such advertising post. These latter brings – willingly or not- a major attention for the benefit of the companies advertised in the posts.
As a result, the OLG affirmed a commercial act.
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If you are interested in reading the whole article in German, you will find the original tribunal decision here.