From ‘likes’ to liability: influencers through the lens of the law

By Antonis Glykis and Christina Avgousti

In a world where social media influencers have become demigods and authority figures for millions of consumers, it seems that questions of legal accountability have moved from the realm of marketing into the domain of tort law.

Influencers routinely promote not only lifestyle trends and consumer goods, fitness regimens, dietary supplements and wellness advice but also political opinions and ideologies that shape public discourse and voter behaviour. Such influence can have far-reaching consequences as audiences may make decisions based on guidance that is largely unregulated and delivered outside traditional standards of transparency and accountability.

In the European Union, influencers who promote products or services are regarded as engaging in commercial activity similar to that of traders. The European Commission’s Influencer Legal Hub accentuates that influencers must comply with consumer protection standards that apply to all traders in the single market. These include obligations under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and other consumer law instruments, such as clear disclosure of commercial intent in sponsored posts and transparency of partnerships. Failure to comply can be treated as an unfair or misleading commercial practice.

In Cyprus, while there is no law per se regulating ‘influencers’, authorities have been strengthening enforcement efforts under existing consumer protection legislation. The Consumer Protection Law of 2021, Law 112(I)/2021 requires influencers to disclose when content is commercial in nature, and not to omit essential information that would deprive consumers of the ability to make an informed decision.

Beyond consumer harm, influencers may also expose businesses and professionals to reputational and economic damage through online publications made to large audiences. Influencers may publicly criticise a hairdresser, restaurant, or other service provider in a misleading, exaggerated, or malicious manner and the resulting exposure may have immediate financial and reputational consequences.

Consequently, where statements exceed fair comment and amount to false factual assertions, misleading representations, or intentional attacks on reputation, courts may become more willing to assess whether influencers should bear heightened responsibilities when publishing content capable of causing foreseeable reputational harm.

Emerging tort responsibilities in the Digital Age

Whilst traditional tort doctrines such as negligent misstatement were not designed with social media in mind, their principles remain relevant to assessing influencers’ responsibilities.

In Europe, consumer protection frameworks and emerging national laws like France’s provide a pathway from misleading conduct to tortious liability and suggest that the legal system is gradually aligning the responsibilities of digital content creators with the harms their influence can cause. In Cyprus, enforcement under existing consumer protection laws demonstrates that even without dedicated influencer legislation, tort-informed liability is a real and pressing concern.

Negligent misstatement

Traditionally, tort liability for negligent misstatement arises where a defendant owes a duty of care to the claimant, breaches that duty, and causes foreseeable loss. Indubitably, whilst most of the case law has focused on professional services – such as architects, doctors and lawyers – recent developments would suggest that influencers could, in fact, fall within the scope of negligence where their content causes physical harm to followers.

Although EU law does not currently categorise influencer speech in negligence terms per se, in the United States, for example, scholars argue that influencers who provide health advice that can injure or kill should face tort liability, because the risk of harm is foreseeable and reliance on their guidance can be established. Some common law systems may resist extending negligent misstatement to influencer content absent a clear professional relationship, while civil law countries with robust statutory consumer protections may permit an overlap between unfair commercial practice sanctions and tort claims.

French Law as a modèle of innovation

France has been at the forefront of regulating influencer conduct. Under the French Influencer Act (Law n 2023-451) influencers are defined as natural or legal persons who, for compensation, use their reputation to promote goods, services, or causes to the public via electronic means. According to this act, influencers must disclose commercial relationships clearly, and they may be held jointly and severally liable with agents and advertisers for harm resulting from their promotional activity. Consequently, they are subject to sanctions, fines and potential imprisonment for prohibited promotions.

These provisions mark a significant shift from general consumer protection towards a framework that recognises influencers not just as market participants but as persons with potential legal duties and responsibilities whose content can create harm and have a detrimental effect on consumers.

In recent years, the rapid proliferation of social media influencers in Cyprus has profoundly transformed the political landscape, fundamentally reshaping the ways in which the public access information, form opinions and participate in public discourse. The absence of a comprehensive legal framework governing paid political endorsements, algorithmic amplification and undisclosed sponsorships has created a regulatory void that fosters misinformation, covert political advertising, potential foreign interference and the distortion of democratic processes. The challenge lies in balancing freedom of expression with accountability whilst ensuring that digital influence does not become a shield for harm.

Antonis Glykis is a partner and Christina Avgousti is an associate at Elias Neocleous & Co LLC

المصدر: Cyprus Mail