Advertising rules for social media (influencer marketing)
Do you advertise on social media? You must comply with advertising regulations. If you are an influencer (content creator) who regularly posts videos (vlogger) and has many followers, you must register.
You can advertise on social media in different ways, for example:
- You have borrowed or received a product or service for free or at a discount.
- You are paid to advertise a product or service.
- You use affiliate links. This means that every time someone buys something through clicking the link you use, you receive a payment.
General advertising rules
When you advertise, you must always meet the rules on advertising. The Dutch Advertising Code (Nederlandse Reclame Code, NRC) contains the general rules in advertising. This applies to all advertising, it makes no difference which medium you use. Advertising cannot be, for instance:
- against the law
- unnecessarily hurtful
- misleading (unclear, incorrect)
The Dutch Advertising Code also contains special advertising codes. These are for instance rules on advertising for food, alcohol, online games of chance, cosmetic products, cosmetic treatments and advertising aimed at children.
Advertising rules for social media
Do you advertise on social media or do you make use of influencers to advertise your product or service on social media? You must comply with the rules for advertising via social media. You can find these rules in the Advertising Code for Social Media & Influencer Marketing in the Dutch Advertising Code. These rules apply to all social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitch. The rules apply to all expressions, including text messages, pictures, podcasts, videos, and streaming. It does not matter how many followers you have.
The main rules of the Advertising Code for Social Media & Influencer Marketing are:
- The viewer or listener must be able to see or hear clearly that it concerns advertising.
- As an influencer or content creator you must make clear that you are being paid (for example by money, dicounts, or free products) to show or discuss certain products.
Find out how to make advertising clearly identifiable (in Dutch).
Are you a content creator or influencer and do you post about investing (finfluencer)? You must comply with the rules for advertising for financial products.
Vloggers with many followers (influencers) must register
Do you advertise in your videos (you make videos as a vlogger or you upload videos) on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok? You have to register with the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media, CvdM) if:
- you have more than 500,000 followers, and
- you post at least 24 videos a year, and
- you are being paid for making or posting video (for example by money, discount, free products or services, or an affiliate link), and
- you are registered as an entrepreneur with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK)
If you are not sure if you must register, you can check this with the Dutch Media Authority (in Dutch).
If you have to register with the Media Authority, you also need to register with the following organisations that supervise online content:
- Dutch Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media (Nederlands Instituut voor de Classificatie van Audiovisuele Media, NICAM)
You pay an annual fee for the CvdM (in Dutch), for the SRC (in Dutch), and for NICAM (in Dutch).
In addition to the Dutch Advertising Code and the Advertising Code Social Media & Influencer Marketing you must keep to the Dutch Media Act. The main rules in the media Act are:
- You must be clear about advertising, sponsoring, and product placement.
- You must be considerate of children (minors).
- You must be clear about who you are and that you are under the supervision of the Dutch Media Authority.
- You must keep your videos for at least 2 weeks from the time your videos can no longer be seen online (retention obligation).
Please note: Are you not (yet) subject to the Media Authority’s supervision? For example, do you not yet have many followers, or do you not yet post many videos? You should still be clear about advertising and sponsoring, and you must take children into account.