Influencer/Sneaky Advertising on Twitter

On the subject of influencer advertising, I have already said a lot here in the blog and recently to the applicability of esports teams.

However, I would just like to stress once again that this case-law and the reporting obligations are not limited to certain platforms. Nor that you might call yourself “influencers” or not. Not even whether you think of yourself as an influencer. The term influencer is nowhere in the law, certainly not in the – compared to many other laws, quite short UWG. On the contrary, the case-law and the obligations concern anyone who acts commercially; and commercially, you act faster than many would like. The threshold for commerciality is NOT high.

So when I was surfing on Twitter, more of the post from @dermetzgercast noticed.

Look what came up?
Thanks to @RuntimeGG, the next hours of CSGO transmission are secured in the @UM_League and @iBUYPOWER Masters 4 ?
Especially the @UM_League shaker is HOT ? pic.twitter.com/Eulzkq6rJK

— der_metzger (@dermetzgercast) 17 January 2019

I therefore take this opportunity to draw the attention of everyone in esports (but also to other sectors) to the problem. Based on the post, I assume that Runtime.gg sponsored the Getränek, @dermetzgercast paid at least nothing for it. This would be a classic case in which it might be necessary to identify the exact circumstances, i.e. to use a ‘paid’ or other day, if necessary. At the moment, the case law is very strict, even if the Court of Appeal in Berlin has mitigated the problem a little. However, a problem with influencer labelling does not require that there be a written contract between Runtime.gg and @dermetzgercast or that @dermetzgercast even be paid for the post office.

As already reported in my last posts, the jurisprudence on this is very much in flux and the exact demarcations are difficult to draw. But if, especially as a perhaps small entrepreneur/streamer/influencer, one wants to avoid litigation, which can become very expensive in case of doubt, it is currently advisable to label more rather than too little.