The Union of Open Commercial Televisions (Uteca) demands that the Government apply the current General Law of Audiovisual Communication to influencers without further delay . The objective is to guarantee the protection of minors and put an end to the numerous breaches detected in the field of advertising.
A group of influencers covertly promoted the services of a betting channel
Complaints and accusations from various associations in the sector have intensified following the recent controversy involving a group of influencers over the covert promotion of the services of a Telegram betting channel. Almost a dozen social media profiles belonging to famous and popular personalities published messages on their Instagram accounts in which they made known their supposed successful experience betting on football and encouraged their followers to do the same. All of this without identifying their communications as advertising.
According to Uteca, the full application of the regulations to influencers will reduce the social alarm generated by their activity, especially with regard to the lack of controls and the risk it poses to minors , a vulnerable group requiring special protection. The intention is also to advance equality in rights and obligations among all audiovisual service providers, regardless of their technology and broadcasting medium.
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The association's claims are based on data provided bosnia and herzegovina number screening by the National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) in a study that has analysed 657 videos uploaded by influencers to video-sharing platforms - with a total of 420 hours of viewing. The analysis indicates that in a large part of this type of content there are unidentified commercial communications or audiovisual content that may be harmful or inappropriate for minors.
Specifically, with regard to YouTube and Twitch , the CNMC points out that the most relevant aspect, due to its presence in more than half of the videos analysed, is the existence of content that could violate the regulations on the protection of minors and commercial communications. The commission also warns that on Instagram TV there has been a high exposure of commercial content by influencers without their proper identification.
"The Government must subject these influencers to the same law that applies to traditional operators"
Following the example of other European countries, such as Austria, Norway or Belgium, Uteca maintains that the Executive “ must act now and subject these influencers to the same law that applies to traditional operators ”, since any other treatment constitutes “ unjustified discrimination that hinders a balanced competitive environment, as well as being a real threat to the effective protection of minors ”.
In defending its position, the Union of Televisions stresses that the application of the regulations to new agents in the sector is supported by the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in 2015, which considered short videos that they create and broadcast to be “programmes”, which makes them audiovisual services subject to regulation. In this sense, the association indicates that it is necessary to delimit those contents and channels that are likely to be considered providers of audiovisual services based on the number of subscribers, views and economic income generated.
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