The rise of social media influencers

Answer

As the rise in social media use has skyrocketed over the past 15 years, so has the rise of the social media influencer (SMI).

A 2023 survey revealed that 57% of people in the generation Z demographic (those born between 1997 and 2012) aspire to be an SMI. Interest in this career has resulted in universities, such as the University of California and Cornell University, offering degrees, courses and master's degrees in the art and business of content creation and influencer marketing.

And for good reason – in 2024, influencer marketing contributed to social media becoming the world’s largest advertising channel, surpassing paid search. It’s predicted to reach $266.92 billion in global spend by the end of this year and to double over the next few years.

Why might social media influencers need legal advice?

Much of the appeal of the influencing profession lies in its accessibility to all. Research published in 2025 revealed that 63.9% of the world's population uses social media. The most popular platforms are free and accessible for use by anyone with an internet connection and smart phone. This means that most people in the world have exposure to SMIs and the opportunity to become SMIs themselves.

Unlike traditional trades or professions, in which there may be more of a distinct moment where a career begins and, consequentially, more understanding around the value of legal advice when beginning to engage in business-related activities, the dual use of social media platforms for personal socialising and entertainment as well as commerce can contribute to gradual and/or unconscious commercial activity being conducted by an individual without it being obvious that such activity might require some legal support.

The transition from an SMI's personal profile and content to engagement with commercial practices could be incredibly discreet. Selling products and express advertising might create some obvious legal considerations for SMIs but there are more subtle degrees of initial commercial opportunities presented to individuals who might not yet be SMIs. These opportunities might be subject to laws and regulations, which those SMIs may engage with before considering the legal implications.

For example, if an individual had a personal Instagram account showcasing food and recipes that became incredibly popular, they may start receiving free products from food, drink or cookware brands. Should the SMI then start featuring those products in their content, they may not be aware that, under the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulations, they’d be required to make it clear to their audience that the products they’re using and posting about were free.

Aside from compliance with laws and regulations, legal advice can also assist SMIs with maximising and protecting their interests, and therefore should be considered for a whole range of services when SMIs embark on this career.

Advertising

Compliance with marketing rules is an important element of the influencer profession that law firms can assist with.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK's independent advertising regulator. The ASA responds to complaints from consumers and businesses and takes action to ban adverts across UK media, which are misleading, harmful, offensive or irresponsible, in breach of the codes written by its sister organisation the Committee of Advertising Practice. The ASA has the power to ban adverts and refer those in breach of the regulations to Trading Standards or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which, at the extreme end of penalties, has the power to prosecute or fine those in breach of the rules.

The CMA is responsible for consumer protection. The CMA has published guidance designed to assist social media platforms, content creators and brands in complying with consumer protection law, with a view to ensuring that consumers are protected from hidden advertising.

Each jurisdiction has its own regulators and laws that govern advertising, and navigating them can be difficult, especially when advertising activity crosses jurisdictional lines. There may also be additional specific advertising regulations to consider relating to certain products – for example, financial, gambling or pharmaceutical products.

This can cause issues for SMIs who may not be aware of, or experienced in, complying with complex advertising regulations, and who, if paid by a company to promote a certain product or service, might not be aware that they need to clearly disclose in the promotion that it’s an advert. Even those who likely have experience in this field can be caught out if they’re not advised correctly, and it can be a costly mistake. For example, in 2022, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million by the US regulator, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, for failing to disclose a paid advert for the cryptocurrency EthereumMax.

Advertising is a complex landscape, and one that many traditional businesses require advice on when engaging in marketing practices. With SMI marketing booming, and its reach increasingly extending beyond commerce, it’s important for SMIs to consider seeking advice from legal teams to remain compliant and ensure risk is managed when advertising anything from products, brands or political movements.

Commercial contracts

SMIs should also consider legal assistance with preparing and reviewing commercial contracts, which can be important tools in protecting SMIs' interests and managing risk as they operate and collaborate.

Often, SMIs will be collaborating with established businesses, and there could be a commercial imbalance of power and/or corporate experience between the parties. Commercial contracts can provide a framework for a business relationship to mitigate some of the risks involved in this imbalance, and provide clarity around performance and restrictions, which can assist with preventing and managing disputes between the parties.

For example, if approached to collaborate with a brand or another influencer, SMIs could seek legal advice and help to prepare an influencer agreement that’d expressly set out the exact services the SMI is agreeing to perform for the brand, such as using a specific product in a set number of specific social media platform posts. It’d likely include important practical details, such as payment arrangements, as well as more technical clarifications relating to ownership and future use of the intellectual property (IP) rights of the content created. SMIs might want to even consider having a standard one-sided influencer agreement prepared for them with their standard terms, which can be used as a general template when they’re approached for work.

If the agreement has been presented by a company as part of a collaboration, there might be express terms relating to brand guidelines, timings and deadlines, confidentiality, and data protection, which might require review by a legal team to ensure they’re not too onerous or unrealistic for the SMI. Such a contract would likely also then describe the implications of breaching one of these agreed terms. When the value of the arrangement is significant, these penalties can be equally so, meaning that understanding and being able to comply with the contractual terms is important to avoid breaching those terms, especially if an SMI is a sole trader and is independently liable for these risks, compared to the businesses they’re negotiating with, which may have insurance policies.

Legal teams can provide valuable assistance for SMIs who are considering commercial partnerships to ensure their interests in the arrangement are included and protected, and to advise on risk.

Litigation

Commercial disputes lawyers could also offer useful legal support to SMIs with disputes that arise relating to influencer work. This could be related to performance or contract issues, as described above, or disputes over the use and ownership of content IP, defamation or misinformation.

For example, if an SMI created personal content with a partner with whom they were in a relationship and didn’t put any legal contract in place to manage the arrangement – understandably given the nature of the relationship – a dispute may arise out of the future use and (especially) monetisation of the content by either party. That content is also likely to contain the personal data of those individuals, which might lead to future disputes if one partner uses the other’s personal data in social media account content. This is where commercial disputes advice could be incredibly valuable to SMIs, protecting their IP rights by seeking a solution that both parties can be happy with. This may be in the form of a settlement in which the parties agree to removal of content, restrictions and use of content and any related payment arrangement. Alternatively, if the matter proceeded to court, the SMIs could seek formal remedies, such as an injunction against future use, or compensation for the use of the intellectual property.

Employment advice

SMIs may also require employment law advice from legal teams. SMIs may be approached to be employed by brands in certain circumstances or may be employers themselves.

Employee status is often accompanied by the accrual of significant legal rights, but it isn’t always expressly articulated or intended. Therefore, legal advice could be incredibly useful for an SMI intending to rely on employment law protections where a company has engaged them in work that qualifies as employment, even if the company didn’t intend this.

Likewise, where an SMI themselves might be considering the hiring of assistance for content creation and business purposes, they may need advice to ensure that these relationships don’t qualify as employment, to avoid the considerable obligations that this status brings. If employment status is unavoidable or intentional, then legal teams can also advise on how best the SMI can protect their interests and remain compliant with employment law and regulations.

Employment law advice is all the more important when considering the growing number of child influencers and micro-influencers. Employment of minors comes with its own set of more stringent, specific legal rights and protections, and management of these relationships is essential to manage the risks involved with employing children, to avoid breach of child protection and labour laws.  

Private wealth

On the above note, and considering the fact that a 2020 survey revealed that 53% of SMIs are between the ages of 25 to 34, and 15% are under 25, there’s a suggestion that SMIs are predominantly younger entrepreneurs who might be independently wealthy earlier than in traditional industries, and therefore before they may have considered seeking any private wealth legal advice.

As SMIs are also self-employed, they’re unlikely to be subject to employment rights, such as sick leave and benefits like pensions. This likely makes private wealth advice all the more important, as SMIs may need to consider how best to maximise and protect the benefit of their current wealth and income to protect against potential future issues, such as sickness or income in old age.

Private client specialists could advise SMIs on their estate management to ensure their incomes are being protected by legal structures, such as trusts, and can advise on what other specialist advice should be considered, such as accountants to assist with tax returns or financial advisers to consider investing, pensions or insurance.

As SMIs get a little older and their estate grows, they might require advice related to buying property with a partner or marriage and the imbalance of assets the SMI may have compared to their peers or partners, which could create risk that could be managed by trust structures or by preparing prenuptial agreements.

If they plan to have a family, SMIs with large personal wealth should also consider seeking private client advice with regards to drafting a will, to ensure their personal wealth is left in the most effective way to the people they choose, should anything happen to them.

Conclusion

Although SMI work might seem like an accessible and instantaneous way to make money at first, there are clearly lots of different aspects, including various legal connotations that require deeper consideration. With technology continuing to evolve and shape our world, so will the law and regulation around these new professions. Lawyers are likely to be required more and more to assist SMIs in keeping up with these changes and navigating their businesses into the future. 

Sonia Bungaroo Valdés is a trainee solicitor at Michelmores LLP.