The Committee’s Report, published in May 2022, highlighted how the growth in the influencer market has exposed several regulatory gaps, particularly around advertising disclosure and protection for children, both as influencers and viewers. It called on the Government to strengthen employment law and advertising regulations.

The Government’s response welcomes or agrees with the intentions of several of the Committee’s recommendations, including promoting young people’s social media literacy, developing a code of conduct for influencer marketing and strengthening the powers of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It also states that the Department for Education is open to exploring legislative ways of improving employment protection for child influencers.

Chair of the DCMS Committee, Julian Knight MP, said that while the Government is making “all the right noises”, it must now “follow through in the Online Safety Bill and beyond to ensure they deliver on the pledge to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online”. To access the Government’s response, click here.