Agcom, register for influencers coming soon and stakes on 'filters'

An official register, updated every six months. Registered influencers will have to include wording such as 'on the Agcom list' in their profiles. In addition to this, those who use filters will be obliged to report the fact that content is modified, in hashtags or through wording such as modified content, modified photo, modified video, filtered photo, filtered video, filters.

As reconstructed by Il Sole 24 Ore, these are two of the novelties contained in the Code of Conduct for influencers that will land on the table of the Agcom Council today. The commissioners will be called upon to assess the approval of a draft text on which, should the green disk be given, the market consultation will then begin. The objective of the Authority's offices and of the operators who participated in the drafting process (the result of a nine-month working table) is to close the circle by April, making the regulatory discipline on influencers, which was triggered by resolution 7/24/CONS "Guidelines aimed at ensuring compliance with the provisions of the Consolidated Law by influencers and the establishment of a special technical table", fully operational. That was last 10 January.

The working table - with just under a hundred subjects - concluded its work on 30 October, producing this Code of Conduct to be applied, according to the parameters used to identify 'relevant' influencers, to between 1,500 and 2,800 of these 'web stars'. All this with a view to redefining the rules of the game for a constantly evolving sector, which has arrived in its 'adult' phase as witnessed also by the 'Pandoro gate' affair that has put the influencer par excellence Chiara Ferragni in the spotlight. Despite the bailamme generated by the case, advertising investments in influencer marketing have nevertheless continued to grow in line with past years: this year, according to the latest Upa data, they will touch €352 million, marking an increase of +9% over 2023.

There are therefore no obvious cracks in this sector, but the new Code of Conduct ends up, as mentioned, complementing the action of an Agcom which, with its January guidelines, has in fact set stakes by considering the most popular digital creators as audiovisual media service providers. Are they entities that create, produce and disseminate audiovisual content to the public via video sharing platforms and social media? Then they must exercise editorial responsibility and abide by those obligations (obviously not all, but some) to which TV broadcasters are subject. And be careful because the fines can reach up to 600,000 euros. In any case, it is not just a matter of punitive rules: according to Sole 24 Ore, the Code would in fact also provide for awareness-raising initiatives aimed at both influencers and users, with ad hoc information campaigns.