The new legislation will aim to provide «greater protection for consumers» with a special «emphasis» on minors
The Spanish government has approved new legislation dubbed the ‘influencer law’ which will hold content creators accountable and establish a legal framework for their activities.
Minister for digital transformation José Luis Escrvá made the announcement, following the cabinet meetings of ministers this Tuesday 30 April. The new legislation will aim to provide «greater protection for consumers» with special «emphasis» on minors. It also aims to provide greater «legal certainty» to content creators, who, according to the head of the sector, «have achieved considerable economic volume on the video sharing platforms through which they disseminate their publications».
The legislation defines «users of special relevance», i.e. «influencers», on the basis of three criteria. Escrivá said these will be: income, activity on the network and number of followers. Influencers will be considered to be those who have an annual income of more than 300,000 euros. Also those who have more than one million followers on a single social network or two million across all platforms. With regard to social media activity, those who have shared 24 or more videos per year.
Influencers who meet both requirements «must register, within two months, in the State Register of Audiovisual Providers as users of special relevance», Escrivá said. Once they have completed this, they will be «obliged» to comply with regulations on the protection of minors and advertising. Some of their commitments include identifying advertising spaces and not advertising tobacco, medicines or alcohol.
However, the obligations to which they will be subject have yet to be determined in a more concrete way, although the minister already said the focus will be on «the protection of minors». One of the measures they intend to implement is that influencers must «label» content «from the point of view of age», as well as when to specify that something is advertising. Escrivá also said «they will not be able to promote advertisements that cause physiological or psychological harm to minors».
