Context: Digital media influencers, Youtubers and celebrities promoting their favorite brands might have to be a bit more cautious going forward as a new draft regulation by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) stipulates that all influencers will have to declare if a product or a service is being covered as part of a promotion. The guidelines say that advertising labels should be clearly visible for video content on all platforms, including mobile phones. For audio content, the disclosure will have to be announced before and after the content. In case of social platforms like Instagram, the guidelines suggest that the disclosure label be superimposed on the image. The content cannot be digitally manipulated to show the product in better light. Influencers will also need to verify whether the claims being made in the advertisement are valid and can be substantiated. The guidelines are similar to the Federal Trade commission guidelines in the United States. The draft proposal is up for public debate till March 8 and is expected to be rolled out by April 15.

About Social Media Influencer

• A Social Media Influencer is a user on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry. 
• A social media influencer has access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach.

Background

• With social media content creators gaining popularity, they’re also being roped in for enhancing brand visibility on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• Given the menace of fake news on social media where a fact check of claims is absent, certain guidelines for influencer advertising are deemed essential to protect consumers’ interest.

Key guidelines

• The draft guidelines require influencer advertising posts to include a permitted form of disclosure such as #ad, #collab, #promo, #sponsored, and/ or #partnership.
• In light of rising cases of social media malpractices and frauds by influencers, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the country’s self-regulatory voluntary organisation for advertising, has released a set of draft guidelines for influencer advertising on digital media. 
• In the case of audio content with no description, the disclosure should be clearly announced at the beginning and at the end of the audio content.
• Social media influencers are also required to do their due diligence regarding any technical claims being made by them in the advertisement. 
• Evidence of due diligence would include correspondence with the advertiser or brand owner confirming that the specific claim made in the advertisement is capable of scientific substantiation.
• Moreover, as per the guidelines, filters on images and videos should not be applied to those posts that claim that the brand has a positive impact, for example, “makes hair shinier”, “teeth whiter” etc. 

Challenges

• “There are ‘paid partnership’, ‘branded content’ and ‘includes paid promotion’ tags on the platforms, respectively,”. Company these tags whenever they are running a branded content campaign... 
• If on other platforms such a system is not in place, the platforms should be advised to do so to regulate the usage of the tags/labels and not the content creator. 
• Different rules for different content types and platforms would be very difficult to follow and even difficult to regulate.”

Road Ahead

• We need to be as transparent with lot of disclosure as far as social media influencers are concerned. Brands and Influencers too need to be equally responsible in deciding the kind of content that they put out on social media. All stake holder need to come on board then we take on to come out with best set of guidelines so that it helps the consumer. At the end of the day protecting the interest of consumer be at the top of the list along with distinguishing between paid and organic content, those are the kind of regulation and guidelines we are mostly likely to see as far as social media influencer are concerned. Both brand and influencers will have to be cautious going forward and that will indeed help the consumer.

Additional Information
Paid Social vs. Organic Social

• This comparison is much like organic search vs. paid search. Organic social is any social media activity without a paid promotion. It uses free social media tools to build and engage with an online following. 
• Paid social refers to anything on social media that’s influenced by advertising dollars. In other words, advertisements or sponsored posts that brands pay a social network to display to audiences beyond their followers. 
• Paid and organic social strategies work best in tandem to simultaneously engage with and nurture your followers while extending the reach of your brand to a broader audience.