New rules for Product Endorsements on Social media: There is a provision in this law that celebrities can be prevented from endorsing any product for a limited time for violating the guidelines. Not only this, penalty can also be imposed on them.
New Delhi:
New rules for Product Endorsements: The Department of Consumer Affairs on Friday issued strict guidelines to crack down on misleading advertisements on social media platforms. Under this, now it will be mandatory for every celebrity, social media influencer or virtual influencer doing product endorsement of companies on social media platform to tell whether they have promoted a product by taking money or they have any personal involvement in the endorsement of that product. Commercial or financial interest is involved. Speaking to NDTV, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh has said this.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh told NDTV, “We have issued guidelines under the Consumer Protection Act. No one can do business on social media in a wrong way. Under this, we have issued guidelines to prevent misleading advertisements.” Those who are consumers should be given this disclosure that people advertise on social media platforms by taking money.
He said that under the new guidelines, now every celebrity, social media influencer and virtual influencer will have to prominently mention on their social media account whether this product endorsement is ‘paid’ or ‘paid promotion’. If they endorse a product by releasing a video, then they will have to write this clearly in the entire video.
This rule will also apply to live streaming of a product endorsement. Along with this, the language of disclosure of product endorsement and paid content should also be the same.
If any celebrity or social media influencer violates the new guidelines, action will be taken against him. Rohit Kumar Singh told NDTV, “There is a provision in this law that if the celebrity violates the guidelines, they can be stopped from endorsing any product for a limited time. Not only this, they can also be fined. Under this, they can be prevented from endorsing the product for 6 months to 2 years and a fine of 10 lakh to 50 lakh can also be imposed.
These new guidelines have been implemented in the entire country from Friday itself. Now any social media user or consumer will be able to complain about the violation of rules to the Central Consumer Protection Authority.
According to the ministry, today there are about 1-lakh social media influencers in the country and the market for product endorsement on social media is continuously increasing. According to an estimate, in the next two years the market of product endorsement will be more than 2800 crores. Now the next challenge before the Central Consumer Protection Authority will be to strictly implement these new guidelines.
Credit: ndtv.in /