Government guidelines for social media influencers are not similar to ASCI ones: Nidhi Khare of CCPA

Social media guidelines for influencers are ready and will be launched anytime soon, said Nidhi Khare, Chief Commissioner, Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA).

Khare told BuzzInContent.com that the guidelines won’t be similar to ASCI’s influencer guidelines, but would be along the lines of the misleading ad guidelines rolled out by the Consumer Affairs Ministry earlier this year. 

When asked as to what would be the penalty for such violations, Khare said that the ministry has fixed heavy penalties for the violation of its guidelines. “If an ad is misleading, but the endorser is a first-time offender, the penalty would be Rs 10 lakh. In the case of habitual offenders, the penalty may go up to Rs 50 lakh,” she added.

She also went on to add that if the case gets instituted, then the offender might face imprisonment as well.

“Although the act clearly states ‘endorsers’, many times people feel that the social media influencers are not endorsers and thus approach the ones who have a lot of following but are private in nature and pay them, either in kind or in cash,” she said.

Moreover, the new influencer guidelines rolled out by the ministry will create advocacy for the influencers who are minors and illiterate, and ensure that when they accept any such endorsement assignment, they don’t end up making any mistake.