News Release | 19-12-2025 | 10:00
Influencers who should know the rules for online promotion use prohibited claims when promoting food products on social media. This emerges from research by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). The NVWA examined 41 Instagram posts promoting food products, with prohibited claims made in 23 posts. The influencers checked hold a certificate showing they are aware of the rules for influencer marketing and can act responsibly.
Last summer, the NVWA investigated claims made by fifteen influencers when promoting, among other things, dietary supplements. These influencers were all ‘Certified by Influencerregels.com’, indicating they should know the rules for online promotion. This certificate is an initiative of the trade association for data-driven marketing DDMA, the Advertising Code Foundation (SRCC), and the Advertisers Association (BVA). The e-learning to obtain the certificate clarifies the rules for online marketing under advertising and consumer law, the Media Act, and product-specific rules around, for example, food or product safety. The NVWA endorses the importance of this e-learning and the certificate.
Prohibited Claims
In 23 of the 41 Instagram posts checked, prohibited claims were still used when promoting dietary supplements and food products. Ten influencers who made mistakes used prohibited medical claims, health claims, and nutritional claims. For example, it was claimed that a product would help fight inflammation. Such a medical claim is always prohibited. The investigation also revealed incorrect health claims, such as ‘has a positive effect on the prostate’ or ‘increases energy’. In five posts, claims were made that did not match the product content. For example, the claim ‘high in protein’ may not be made if the product does not contain enough protein.
Checklist
All products promoted or offered must be safe and not misleadingly advertised. This means influencers must check if they use the correct claims when promoting products online. They can verify this via the NVWA website. Checklists have been made for products often offered online, such as dietary supplements and cosmetics.
Follow-up
The research aims to gain insight into compliance with the rules on claims for food products by influencers with a certificate. The research shows that even these influencers do not always know or apply the rules correctly. The NVWA has shared the results with DDMA. DDMA indicates it actively informs e-learning participants about NVWAs information on claims. Next year, the NVWA will conduct a more extensive inspection of misleading claims used by influencers on social media. The NVWA advises consumers to be critical of product promotions on social media. Claims are not always accurate, proven, or sometimes even prohibited.
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