Author: Asyana Eka PutriEditor: Hosea Immanuel Latumahina

The rapid development of information technology has opened up opportunities for every user to gain economic benefits. Typically, the utilization of these opportunities and the results achieved will depend heavily on the creativity of each digital creator. For example, in some cases, creators with large social media followers tend to have an easier time securing collaborations with brands because they are perceived as having the ability to shape their followers’ opinions. Alternatively, those with a more subtle approach, like an older sister recommending beauty products, typically find it easier to gain the trust of their followers. However, this industry’s development has resulted in a blurring of the boundaries between creativity and advertising ethics. This is particularly true in Indonesia, where there is still a regulatory gap between consumer protection and creative soft-selling content. This contrasts with several developed countries, where creators, such as the United States, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Germany, are required to provide explicit information in every product or service promotion to ensure transparency for consumers. How can consumer protection in Indonesia be enforced without undermining or nullifying the creativity of digital creators?

Influencer Marketing Trends and the Economic Opportunities Behind Them

In its early days, social media served as a platform for sharing information and communicating, including between users who previously didn’t know each other. However, over time, the digital business landscape of social media has begun to change with increasing monetization opportunities, enabling users to gain economic benefits, including through promotional activities. This type of user is now known as a social media content creator or social media influencer. It is estimated that there are around 2 million professional creators worldwide, earning economic benefits from various sources, such as the YouTube Partner Program or becoming affiliates who recommend products. As with most economic activities, these creators also contribute to increasing state revenues, whether through revenue generated through sales commission incentives, acting as brand ambassadors or brand endorsements, or by empowering more workers through the creative agencies they establish. In Indonesia itself, by 2025, the creative economy workforce will comprise approximately 18.70 percent of the total national workforce, or approximately 27.40 million people. This figure is an increase from the previous year, when the creative economy workforce reached 26.48 million in 2024. Furthermore, several organizations already exist that oversee this profession, such as the Indonesian Content Creators Association (AKKI), the All-Indonesia Content Creators Association (AKKSI), and the Indonesian Historical Content Creators Association (AKKSINDO).

Ethical Considerations in Influencer MarketingThe freedom digital creators have to market brand products or increase traffic and engagement on social media does not necessarily follow the ethics commonly applied in conventional advertising practices. It is increasingly common to find creators shifting from straightforward marketing content concepts, such as product unboxings, to more subtle or soft-selling approaches, such as creating content with a false narrative that pretends the creator is actually using the product in question in real life. Some creators also pretend to receive questions from their followers and then answer with product recommendations, even though the questions have been prepared by the manufacturers or marketers they collaborate with, or they create clickbait narratives that culminate in promotions.

One classic reason creators engage in covert content is the amplification by social media platforms of emotionally engaging content, even if it contains misinformation and polarization, by offering incentives in the form of increased traffic or engagement, both of which are crucial for creators to gain more followers and increase the value of their services to brands. On the other hand, some research suggests that uncertainty about the impact of including advertising information in content on engagement has created a perception among influencers that transparency can reduce content performance, despite legal obligations. However, legal obligations, which have been implemented in several countries, are intended to protect consumers from misleading information, fostering critical thinking habits among ad viewers, and fostering a healthy advertising competition climate.

Gaps in Consumer Protection Regulations in Indonesia Regarding Influencer Marketing Practices

In the United States and the European Union, specific regulations govern digital creator-based advertising activities. The FTC Endorsement Guides in the United States, for example, require influencers to explicitly and prominently disclose their transactional relationships with brands. The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK has even issued several rulings against creators found to have concealed disclosures, used ambiguous hashtags, or knowingly included disclaimers after the “more” button. Meanwhile, according to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which serves as the foundation for consumer protection in the digital realm in the European Union, several creator activities that fall under commercial provisions and require disclaimers include free accommodations and test drives of the latest vehicles.

Compared to Indonesia, there is currently no positive legal framework that fully protects users of commercial content on digital platforms. Consumer protection in general is currently regulated in a limited capacity by Minister of Trade Regulation Number 31 of 2023 concerning Electronic Commerce, the Consumer Protection Law, and the Electronic Information and Transactions Law. Referring to Article 1 number 1 of Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection, legally, consumers receive legal protection as outlined below: “Consumer protection is any effort that ensures legal certainty to provide protection to consumers.” Meanwhile, Minister of Trade Regulation Number 31 of 2023 concerning Electronic Commerce states in Article 28 paragraph 1: “The display of Electronic Advertisements must comply with the provision of not containing false, incorrect, or inaccurate information regarding Goods and/or Services.”

Conclusion

With the lack of a regulatory umbrella specifically protecting users from commercial content on digital platforms, coupled with low levels of digital literacy and users’ psychological or emotional vulnerabilities, which are exploited by creators or platforms to display non-factual promotional material, the need for regulatory development is increasingly pressing. The primary goal is, of course, to protect and empower users, enabling them to make economic decisions based on exploratory behavior and further contextual and rational analysis, rather than simply positioning them as objects of algorithms and unequal digital infrastructure. A series of regulations will also help create a healthier digital creator ecosystem and increase public trust. What needs to be considered, then, is how these regulations will prevent creators from stifling their creativity, let alone stifling freedom of expression in the name of advertising ethics.

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