Since 2020, the Mia Act* has been amend, bas on a European directive. As a result, dataset it also applies to video uploaders. Enforcement was delay for a long time, because European supervisors had not yet agre on the method of enforcement. For example, video uploaders now only have to refer to contact details** and are no longer oblig to publish their address details publicly. However, video uploaders who have 500,000 followers or more on all platforms must comply with stricter advertising rules. In June 2024, the Dutch Mia Authority impos a fine for the first time.
€6000 fine for 4 TikTok videos
Rhodé Kok is the first (un)lucky person to receive a fine because she fail to make it sufficiently clear in four videos that they contain advertising.
Advertising must always be clear . We already have rules for that in our Civil Code and the self-regulation via the Advertising Code Committee clarifies that. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) may enforce those rules, but usually lets that opportunity pass because the self-regulation, in which no fine is possible, would work sufficiently.
Specifically for video uploaders with more than 500,000 followers, the Mia Act also applies , as it applies to radio and TV, for example. These rules are enforc by the Commissariat for the Mia (CvdM), which may impose fines.
That the CvdM does not do this immiately is evident from the fine decision of Rhodé Kok. She too had three opportunities to adjust her videos, but did not do so. Not even after she was invit to the office of the CvdM and had been explain once again how the rules were structur and how she could adjust her videos.
Because she adjust her videos after the initial decision and show that she knows the rules by obtaining the Influencer Certificate , the fine was ruc from €8,100 to €6,075.
Advertising must be recognizable in the ‘standard display’
In order to comply with advertising regulations, it must be immiately clear to a viewer that it is advertising. TikTok: are you allowed to use other search engine optimization united states america people’s videos?. The viewer should not have to perform an active action, such as clicking (further) open a description of the video.
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So it’s about what and how you say it, but also where.
It must be a visible or audible mention. The label ‘paid partnership’, which is possible with TikTok mistakes that businesses need to avoid in their approach to the market for new products nd Instagram, is sufficient. ‘ad’ may also be us as an abbreviation of the word advertisement, as long as it is immiately visible and therefore at the beginning of the description instead of at the end.
One of the four videos for which the fine was given was a barter deal. The video was post in exchange for a Dyson Airwrap. Despite the fact that the influencer had obtain the Influencer Certificate, she apparently did not know that you also have to mention that a barter deal is advertising.
