Facebook-owned Instagram is to crackdown on social media influencers and celebrities who make posts without telling followers when they have been paid to do so, following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.
The CMA said it has been investigating the issue of so-called “hidden advertising” by social media influencers and has been concerned that Instagram has not been doing enough to tackle the problem.
Social media influencers can make considerable income by charging fees to companies to promote a product with posts that can be seen by thousands of followers of their Instagram profiles.
Clear labelling of incentivised posts is required under UK consumer protection law so that people are not misled.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said:
For too long, major platforms have shied away from taking responsibility for hidden advertising on their site,” said “So, this commitment to tackle hidden adverts and overhaul the way people post on Instagram – making it difficult for users to ignore the law – is a welcome step forward.
These changes mean there will be no excuse for businesses to overlook how their brands are being advertised either – making life a lot harder for those who are not upfront and honest with their followers.
The CMA, which said that Instagram will now report its progress tackling the issue to it regularly, said that the commitments apply to all Instagram users in the UK as well as anyone globally who directs their posts towards UK users.
So, Brexiteer Nigel Farage has popped up again, this time with a daily newsletter meant to save subscribers cash.
In a tagline that sounds awfully familiar, his website claims people should subscribe to ‘Fortune & Freedom’ because “It’s time to take back control of your money.”
It goes on to say they’ll answer burning questions like “why aren’t you told about what really makes money?” and “why are you not warned early about big financial threats?”
The first post explains:
We cover everything from the benefits of holding gold, why the Euro looks doomed, the potential for cryptocurrencies and how cancel culture is making critical thinking and public debate toxic.
But if your burning question is more about whether this is actually real, the FT’s Alphaville (£) has already confirmed: “no, it’s not a spoof”.
Katie Martin
(@katie_martin_fx)“gold is like insurance against monetary megalomaniacs at the Bank of England and Exchequer”
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More from our retail correspondent Sarah Butler, following the John Lewis announcement earlier this morning.
John Lewis is to become a major landlord, aiming to build homes for rent at 20 sites it owns around the country as part of its new strategy to rebuild profits to £400m within five years.
The company said building homes would offer it a new kind of income alongside other ideas including financial and digital services as future profits from retail were unlikely to be sufficient for it to pay staff at the level it wanted.
The retailer has outlined a huge array of ideas under chairman Sharon White and her newly appointed heads of the John Lewis department stores and Waitrose.
She has confirmed plans to ditch the department store’s long-held Never Knowingly Undersold price pledge for a new price promise to be finalised next year and to enable shoppers to recycle or reuse more products and is spending £1bn on expanding further online.
It is a bold effort to try and move a business under pressure into new markets. Others might have chosen to stick to the knitting in the department stores and run them as effectively as possible – while rivals such as Debenhams and House of Fraser shrink and potentially disappear.
Can John Lewis learn new tricks? The company’s move into online retail paid off in the past – that was brilliantly executed. Can they do the same with house building, gardening and insurance during tough economic times? We’ll see.
Updated
at 3.58am EDT
JD Wetherspoon has slumped to a £95m annual loss as sales plunged during the coronavirus lockdown, with the pub chain’s outspoken founder renewing his criticism of the UK government’s restrictions to control the pandemic, my colleague Mark Sweney writes.
The chain, which reported a £95m profit in its previous financial year, said revenues slumped by 30.6% to £1.26bn as its pubs were hammered by the lockdown.
The pre-tax loss includes £60m of exceptional one-off costs, including £29m Covid-related costs for stock losses, staff costs and equipment.
The pub chain said it is in consultation to reduce the 1,000 staff at its pubs at six UK airports by 450, which it announced last month. It is also reducing head office staff numbers by 108.
Confirmation of the cuts come a day after the pub and brewer Marston’s announced it was axing 2,150 jobs, the biggest cuts in the sector since the pandemic began. Last week, Greene King said it is cutting 800 jobs and closing 79 pubs and restaurants.
Wetherspoons said since 4 July 429 employees have tested positive for coronavirus, 1% of its 43,000 total staff. The company said that is in line with the 0.9% rate testing positive in the total UK population and less than the 1.5% Amazon reported among its US employees.
Tim Martin, the founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoon, said:
If pubs were, indeed, ‘centres of transmission’ it might be expected that infection rates would be higher among employees than those of either the general population or companies like Amazon.
Raab’s Brexit comments have lifted the pound, which has pared its losses and is now nearly flat against the US dollar at 1.2909.
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