Reklam i sociala medier : En kartläggning av influencers handlingssätt och de rättsliga konsekvenser som följer

Sammanfattning: Social media has become an integral part of modern day society and occupies a substantial part of peoples’ lives. At the same time companies are exploring new and effective ways to reach consumers. This has resulted in the marketing strategy called influencer marketing and Sweden’s first legal case concerning commercial content published by an influencer on social media. Although the case is in its adolescence and has been appealed, it is still of great interest to analyse and investigate further. This is achieved by conducting an empirical study of similar cases published by the self-regulatory organisation called The Swedish Advertising Ombudsman. Furthermore, legal reasoning and arguments from relevant German cases will be compared to and analysed with the Swedish case in order to gain a wider perspective and a deeper understanding. It is clear that commercial content published by influencers on social media should be subject to the same strict requirements as other commercial messages. Especially since the content derives from physical persons, i.e. influencers, the commercial connection must be clear and conspicuously disclosed unless it is already obvious from the context of the communication. The purposes of the social platforms vary and might not always functionally allow or make it possible to communicate a clear and understandable commercial context without having it disclosed. By cause of that, one of the arguments this thesis makes is that disclosing the commercial connection in a clear and conspicuous way should be the principal rule on social media. The other option should be avoided, as the risk of misleading consumers is too great.