Totalt 50 tillsyns cases are ongoing at the Swedish Consumer Agency after lawyers have reviewed numerous posts on Tiktok, Youtube, Instagram and Snapchat and seen that many well-known influencers and advertisers are engaging in hidden advertising.
There is a need to strengthen the work that the Swedish Consumer Agency already has regarding various tillsyn cases specifically against influencers, says Minister for Consumer Affairs Erik Slottner (KD) to TT.
”Protect children and young people”
In the new assignment, the agency is to guide influencers and companies that hire influencers, for example through information campaigns. This so that they can better do the right thing in marketing.
Can't they follow the existing rules themselves?
We are prepared to give assignments to the authorities that can do something to tackle this major social problem, not least to protect children and young people, says Slottner.
It is also about raising children and young people's knowledge of marketing – but how it will happen is up to the Swedish Consumer Agency.
These influencers are using a kind of false friendship with children and young people to promote products, where it is sometimes unclear what is marketing and what is not, says Social Minister Jakob Forssmed (KD).
Can become changes
Forssmed means that children and young people's self-esteem is affected, something that can be seen in that many call the Swedish Child and Youth Agency (Bris) about eating disorder problems.
Is it primarily flaws in marketing that cause these effects?
It's about there being a symbiosis between the beauty industry, social media companies and influencers that involves children being met with this type of message every hour of the day, says Forssmed.
The Swedish Consumer Agency is also to assess whether there are flaws in the current rules and regulations and, if so, propose changes.
