REGULATORY INFLUENCER FRAUD
ONLINE AND OUT OF LINE
Iona Silverman, Intellectual Property and Media Partner at Freeths, tells Cosmetics Business how to identify influencer fraud and what brands can do about it
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nfluencer fraud is rife. According to The State of Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report 2022, 49% of Instagram influencer accounts were impacted by fraud in 2021. That’s nearly half.
More than 50 million people globally now consider themselves content creators, and the market size has grown to well over US$104bn.
Given brands are spending more than ever on influencer marketing, they need to be savvy enough to spot influencer fraud and to know what they can do about it.
WHAT IS INFLUENCER FRAUD? Influencer fraud can take many forms, but most common is the use of artificial means to boost influencer following.
44 January 2023
Traditionally this was by way of paying third parties to follow accounts, like posts and comment. Individuals (often in developing countries) were employed on so-called ‘click farms’ to engage with content. Automated bots can fulfil the same function, though these are often more obviously fake as they frequently glitch, writing repeated or nonsensical comments. More recently, service providers, such
as Twicsy, Buzzoid and Rushmax, have begun to offer affordable monthly managed subscriptions, automating follower growth and making it appear natural. The followers are allegedly real users, with real accounts, rather than bots, so are more difficult to detect as fakes, and influencers can choose to buy likes, followers, views and more.
Coerced engagement is another problem. This can range from asking contacts for extra likes, to participation in mutual coerced engagement ‘pods’. These pods can have up to a hundred members, all bound to like and engage with other pod members’ content. While this may sound like a mutually beneficial arrangement, it still registers as influencer fraud.
Inauthenticity is a real problem for influencers that engage in influencer fraud, in any form. Obvious spikes in followers, obviously fake followers, comments that don’t make sense or that are given by an influencer working in an unrelated sector should all ring alarm bells for brands and consumers alike. Even where the fraud is less obvious, the effect is often still perceptible by
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