Turkey’s Regulation of Social Media Influencers:

The Guideline on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices by Social Media Influencers
In the meeting of the Board of Advertisement of 4 May 2021 No. 309, with the principle decision No. 2021/2, a legal regulation was adopted for the first time in Turkey regarding advertisements made by social media influencers.
This legal regulation, published as a Guideline, regulates the principles regarding advertisements made by social media influencers (hereinafter ‘the Guideline’). The purpose of the Guideline is to provide guidance for all individuals, institutions and organizations that advertise, as well as advertising agencies and media organizations related to commercial advertising and commercial practices by social media influencers. The Guideline covers all forms of consumer commercial advertising and commercial practice by social media influencers. The Guideline has been prepared based on Arts. 61, 62, 63 and 84 of the Law on Consumer Protection dated 7 November 2013 No. 6502 (hereinafter, the LCP), and the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices (hereinafter, the Regulation) published in the Official Gazette dated 10 January 2015 No. 29232, and decision of Board of Advertisement dated 4 May 2021.
In Art. 4 of the Guideline, the terms ‘social media’ and ‘social media influencer’ are defined. Accordingly, social media includes natural or legal persons, which allow users to create, view or share content such as text, images and sounds on the internet for social interaction purposes, within the scope of the Code on the Regulation of Broadcasts on the Internet and the Fight against Crimes Committed through these Broadcasts No. 5651 of 4 May 2007. A social media influencer, on the other hand, refers to a person who undertakes marketing communication in order to sell or rent a good or service belonging to her/him or the advertiser, in order to inform or persuade the target audience through her/his social media account.
General Principles
The basic principles governing advertisements made by social media influencers are regulated in Art. 5 of the Guideline. According to this provision, advertisements made by social media influencers must be clearly and distinguishably expressed. As with all kinds of communication tools, it is prohibited to make audio, written and visual covert product placement advertisements on social media (first paragraph). Depending on the platform on which the commercial advertising relationship takes place, the social media influencer must clearly state this relationship by using at least one of the expressions listed in Arts. 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the Guideline, in the posts where financial gain and/or benefits such as free or discounted goods or services are provided from the advertiser (second paragraph).
Form of Advertisements
The regulation of advertisements made by social media influencers, i.e. which rules they are subject to, depends on the kind of platform on which the advertisement is made. In this context, advertisements made on video sharing platforms are regulated in Art. 7; advertisements on photo and message sharing platforms are regulated in Art. 8; advertisements made on podcasts are regulated in Art. 9; and advertisements on platforms where the content can only be seen for a short time are regulated in Art. 10. Regardless on which of these platforms the advertisement is made, it must be in accordance with the third paragraph of Art. 5. According to this paragraph, the hashtags and descriptions used by social media influencers:
– must be distinguishable from the colours and background used in the sharing and should be in an easily readable size;
– must be stated in such a way and position that the sharing is understood as commercial advertising, without the need for consumers to undertake anything else when they first encounter the sharing;
– in case other hashtags or descriptions are included in the post, these tags or descriptions must be clearly indicated;
– must be presented in such a way that they are noticeable by consumers at first glance, taking into account the interface and technical characteristics of the platform where the sharing takes place.
 
1) Advertisements made on video sharing platforms (Art. 7)
In advertisements made on video sharing platforms such as YouTube and Instagram TV and in live broadcast shares, at least one of the following explanations must be included in writing and verbally (consistently in the video or in the title or description section of the video, or at the beginning of the section where the relevant advertisement is broadcast) without consumers having to click on a field such as ‘read more’:
– ‘This video contains [advertiser] advertisements’,
– ‘This video includes paid collaboration with [advertiser]’,
– ‘With the support of [advertiser]’,
– ‘I received these products [from the advertiser] as a gift’,
– ‘Thanks to [the advertiser] for sending me the products’.
2) Advertisements on photo and message sharing platforms (Art. 8)
At least one of the hashtags or explanations listed below must be included with any of the promotional information such as name, trade mark, commercial name of the advertiser in or under or in the descriptions of the photo and/or message shared on photo and message sharing channels such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter:
– # Advertisement
– # Advertisement/Promotion
– # Sponsorship
– # Cooperation
– # Partnership
– ‘Collaboration with @ [Advertiser]’
– ‘Provided by @[Advertiser].’
– ‘Received as a gift by @[Advertiser].’
3) Advertisements made on podcasts (Art. 9)
At the beginning, middle and end of the broadcast, at least one of the statements listed below must be included in advertisements, in written and verbal form, made through podcasts:
– ‘This podcast contains advertisement about [the advertiser]’,
– ‘This podcast consists of a paid collaboration with [the advertiser]’,
– ‘With the support of [Advertiser]’,
– ‘I received the products (which I mentioned in my podcast) as a gift from [the advertiser]’.
4. Advertisements on platforms where the content can only be seen for a short time (Art. 10)
In advertisements where the content can only be seen for a short time, such as Snapchat and Instagram stories, at least one of the hashtags or explanations listed below must be included along with any of the promotional information about the advertiser, such as name, trade mark, commercial name:
– # Advertisement
– # Advertisement/Promotion
– # Sponsorship
– # Cooperation
– # Partnership
– ‘Collaboration with @ [Advertiser]’
– ‘Provided by @[Advertiser].’
– ‘Received as a gift by @[Advertiser].’
Obligations
1) Obligations of social media influencers (Art. 6)
Social media influencers:
– may not share for commercial advertising purposes a good or service that they have not personally tested or experienced, in such a way as to create in the eyes of the consumer the impression of an endorsement of the good or service or that the influencer has tested or experienced the advertised good or service;
– may not make a health declaration regarding a good or service in violation of the relevant legislation;
–  may not make claims about scientific research and test results related to a good or service unless they are objective,
measurable, not based on numerical data and cannot be proved;
– may not refer to goods or services offered by doctors, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists and health institutions, and may not promote these goods or services;
– may not create the impression that they have purchased a good or service which has been given to them free of charge by the advertiser;
– may not create the impression that they act in the capacity of a consumer while they receive financial gain and/or benefits such as free or discounted goods or services from any advertiser;
– must clearly state that the image is filtered if he/she uses effects or filtering applications in the commercial advertisement of any commodity;
– may not systematically and collectively (more than once) create and/or use fake or non-existent identities to communicate about a good and/or service via social media.
2. Obligations of advertisers (Art. 11)
Advertisers:
– must inform social media influencers of the provisions of the Guideline;
– must require social media influencers to comply with relevant codes and regulations, including the LCP, the Regulation and the Guideline;
– in cases where influencers are authorized by the advertiser to promote goods and services through third parties, these must also comply with the relevant codes and regulations, including the LCP, the Regulation and the Guideline;
– must take action against violations so that social media influencers meet their obligations. An advertiser may not avoid the obligations on the grounds that social media influencers must take responsibility (Art. 11(2)). If an advertiser demonstrates that it has complied with the obligations set out in Art. 11(1) and (2), it is deemed to have made the best effort reasonably expected to ensure that the social media influencers comply with the relevant rules (Art. 11(3)).

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"Dr. Öğretim Üyesi Ufuk Tekin'in Oxford Üniversitesi tarafından çıkarılan GRUR-International Teil dergisindeki  "The First Regulation by Turkey of Social Media Influencers: The Guideline on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices by Social Media Influencers" başlıklı raporundan naklen alınmıştır"