About seventy people, including representatives of the Communications Guarantorof the main social platforms, law firms, public relations agencies, trade associations linked to the world of music, publishing and even wines participated this morning (streaming) at the first meeting convened by AgCom on influencers.
The purpose, after the explosion of the Ferragni case (latest news here)is to redefine the principles and limits within which they can and must operate marketing professionals and online communication.
Social networks Adv, gifted and supplied, shadow bans and tariffs: minimal guide to influencer marketing by Emanuele Capone 16 January 2024
Proposals and subgroups: this is how we will work
From what Italian Tech has managed to learn, the meeting lasted just under two hours and it was more cognitive and linked to procedures: who does what, who deals with which aspect, which IT tools to use to share various documents and so on.
Among those present, just to mention a few names, Fedez’s Doom Entertainment (and himself Fedez, however briefly), the publishers Gedi and Mondadori, Federvini, Fimi, Assoinfluencer and AiCdc, a sort of influencers’ unionGraffagnini Management, the 177C of Clio Make Up, Good Vibration, BuzzooleDeRev, One Shot, We Are Era, MyPr, Anica and also representatives of Web3Alliance. And many, many, very many lawyers.
As mentioned, this morning’s meeting was only for begin to define the scope of action: all the parties will meet again next week for the presentation of what have been called “preliminary proposals” (on how to proceed to regulate everything, we imagine) and for the following creation of operational subgroups. Which, in the intentions, should be dedicated, for example, to understanding and defining the type of stamps and labels to be applied to advertising posts, to the very delicate definition of influencerto the procedures for protection of minorsthose to defend people’s rights and how to send any reports to AgCom.
Come on Italian Tech we already anticipated it in Januarythe work will be long: as established by the Authority’s resolution (and also confirmed this morning), the deadline for the presentation of the new rules is set for July 3rd.
The research Influencers beyond Chiara Ferragni: who they follow and what Italians are looking for on social media by Emanuele Capone 16 October 2023
The new guidelines for influencers
But what are these new rules we are moving towards? The drafts circulated in recent weeks they speak of sanctions ranging from 10 thousand to 250 thousand euros for violations of advertising transparency and from 30 thousand to 600 thousand as regards the obligations to protect minors, the obligation to do reference to Consolidated Law on Audiovisual Media Services (as those who work on YouTube already do) and indeed a clear indication that a sponsored post is sponsored.
However, behind all this there is the definition of the concept of influencerwhich must be precise and clear enough not to unintentionally include other categories that have a large following on social media (politicians like Giorgia Meloni, for example): at the moment we are talking about at least one million followers on the various platforms or social media and an average engagement value equal to or greater than 2%. But it is not yet known which platforms are considered and whether these numbers apply to all (1 million followers on TikTok is not worth as much as 1 million on Instagram) and it hasn’t been made clear what is meant by engagement. Which are all things that we hope the 60-70 people who were connected to Rome this morning can do.
@capoema