The labeling requirement for such advertising is currently being heavily discussed in the media. To help you as an influencer find your way through the labyrinth of advertising labels, we have a few useful tips for you here.

A new draft law is intended to bring clarity about the advertising labeling requirement in influencer marketing and regulates in which cases influencers must label posts as advertising.

1. Label advertising

The draft provides for the advertising labeling requirement if the influencer receives compensation or similar consideration.

According to the new law, photos and videos on Instagram must generally be marked with the reference to *advertising* or *ad* if consideration is provided for the placement of the corresponding products, regardless of whether this is monetary payment to the influencer or one comparable remuneration. Even if the naming of the brands is linked to certain conditions by the respective companies, the contribution must be marked accordingly. The same applies to affiliate links, advertising links and discount codes.

This also makes it clear that recommendations from influencers for brands without compensation do not constitute an advertising labeling obligation. If the blogger shows a product or brand to third parties purely out of their own motivation and without any commercial incentive, no explicit labeling is usually necessary. But here too there are exceptions, for example in the case of extremely positive and possibly misleading representations by the influencer. The same applies to links to friends, your own sources, products or companies. This new law is likely to reduce excessive advertising labeling due to the previously uncertain legal situation.

If an influencer presents their own products or refers to their own company, explicit advertising labeling is only mandatory if the influencer's entrepreneurial status is not clear to the user, i.e. if the user is not aware that the influencer is in their own business interest acts.

2. Example of the labeling requirement

If the influencer posts a picture with a product, an app or a service is promoted for another company and the influencer receives a fee for this + the product for free or only the product is given for free: advertising labeling obligation

3. How should the advertising be labeled?

Label your advertising posts by using “advertisement” or “advertisement” and you will definitely be on the safe side.

Important: Only sufficient advertising labels . Markings on the outermost edge of the image are therefore not permitted in story posts, for example. You can download the exact regulations from the state media authorities and further information on exceptional cases here .