Germany – The use of influencers in social media – The latest “hat trick” of the BGH

The traditional advertising industry is changing. For quite some time now, companies have increasingly been using so-called influencers to promote their products instead of the traditional media. On their wide-ranging social media channels, influencers rate, test, present or mention brands, products, and services of various companies by means of tagging or links in social media posts. Many of such posts do not immediately "out" themselves as classic advertising and for consumers, it is not always clear if a post is an influencer's personal and independent opinion or if the post is sponsored by the company, who’s product is mentioned in the post.