Greek Ministry of Development: Controls on influencers begin

Controls of the commercial practices used by influencers on their social media accounts will be carried out in the coming weeks by the Ministry of Development, with the assistance of digital tools from the European Commission, to protect consumers from misleading commercial practices.

In particular, in the context of pan-European checks carried out in the Member States of the Union at the initiative of the European Commission (EU Sweeps), the General Directorate of Market and Consumer Protection of the General Secretariat of Commerce is going to carry out checks on the commercial practices used by influencers on social media, in order to promote or make available for sale goods and services of companies (brands) with which they cooperate.

The controls

The objective of pan-European checks is twofold: firstly, to identify social media posts by influencers that contain testimonials, reviews or listings that may be misleading to consumers, influencing their purchasing behavior and causing financial loss, and secondly to verify whether influencers clearly inform their followers about their company’s identity and contact information.

The European Commission and the Ministry of Development invite influencers, as well as all those involved in the digital marketing industry, to visit the Influencer Legal Hub platform, in order to be adequately informed about their legal obligations, fair commercial practices and the applicable European standards for consumer protection.

The tax office is also tightening its grip

For some time now, the Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) has started special checks on the incomes of well-known Greeks on social media. The main objective is to detect cases of tax evasion.

The targets of the audits are revenue and financial transactions, providing services for promotion or products for sale.

Artists, models and even athletes are known to be used in the e-commerce industry and businesses that sell all kinds of products online.

There are even cases of companies that operate without a physical presence by not issuing tax documents for their sales, while others have not even started operations at the tax office by not paying VAT, income tax and other deductions.