You face these legal consequences in the EU

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German journalist Frederik Fleig from 1LIVE started a self-experiment in 2018. For four weeks, he tested whether and how one can become a fake influencer . The video was created in collaboration with WDR and blogger Masha Sedgewick (and is unfortunately only available in German). As a result of his strategy, Fleig was offered several brand companies who did not look twice.

It is obvious that you need to check the profiles of your influencers’ followers. Do they have a profile picture, posts, and likes? What are the profiles interested in and does it match the topics of the influencers you want to partner with? However, it is equally obvious that this method is not very economical, especially with macro-influencers and top-tier influencers, and is therefore completely impossible. This is where Kolsquare’s credibility score helps you.

Kolsquare's credibility score protects you from fake influencer scams
For all influencers in our global database, Kolsquare’s technology calculates a percentage that indexes each influencer’s credibility . Thus, the Kolsquare credibility score shows how “healthy” the influencer’s audience is. The software checks profiles for bots, inactive followers, purchased likes, and purchased followers. A score between zero and 100 is then determined.



All profiles can buy fake followers at will or increase their reach with the help of a bot. Although this violates the community guidelines of many social platforms, it is not yet illegal. However, if this deception leads to an advertisin australia accountant email database g contract, it is in most cases a classic fraud (from the start), as lawyer Nicole Mutschke claims .

Influencers are aware at the time of signing the advertising contract that they cannot deliver what they promise (real followers). Therefore, it is most likely that there is an "intention" and "desire to enrich" the advertising, with a pecuniary loss in the advertising value obviously reduced.

So far, the issue has received little legal attention , but prosecutors and courts are increasingly paying attention to the growing importance of social media, Mutschke adds.

Influencers with no criminal record can expect a fine, while multiple violations and swindling a large amount of money can lead to a suspended sentence, among other penalties. In addition to the criminal dimension, brands and advertising partners can claim compensation and damages.

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