An Attorney’s Perspective on Influencers

Influencers are becoming more and more popular because of their capacity to promote goods. Brand perceptions and brand equity can be greatly influenced by influencers. Because influencers and businesses work closely together, it is difficult to distinguish between sponsored promotion and genuine content, which raises issues about responsibility, transparency, and legal compliance.

Stolen Influencer Content

One issue that has troubled influencers is when businesses and brands use their content without permission. For example, in 2018, fashion and lifestyle influencer Nita Batra sued PopSugar for its alleged unauthorized use of Batra’s photos. The company was accused of stealing copyright-protected images from Instagram influencers and using them to create fresh links on PopSugar's website (Keshishian, 2018). Batra claimed that Pop Sugar had the potential to deceive customers by using class members' names inaccurately “with the company’s goods or services and is likely to confuse consumers” (Cullins, 2019). Batra was not alone. “PopSugar had repurposed millions of lifestyle influencers' images, social media handles and biographies to create dedicated pages for them on their site” (Hills, 2018).

Incorporating copyright notices and watermarks on creator content can strengthen creators' legal rights and deter infringement of their content. “By prominently displaying these notices, creators can effectively assert their ownership across various platforms, whether it be on websites, social media, or digital publications” (C.L, 2024). Content creator website's content material protection against online theft can be improved by turning off the right-click features, for example. “Implementing this method involves technical steps such as adding JavaScript code to your site’s HTML, which can restrict the context menu functionalities” (C.L, 2024). Other methods may be effective, too, and regularly monitor their content online will help protect influencers (C.L, 2024).

Ms. Ramirez described how content creators have had their content used without permission by brands or other content creators, and possible steps to take to remedy the situation.