Liability of influencers arising from unlawful advertisements on social media

The focus of this study is the liability of influencers arising from unlawful advertisements on social media. The study starts with the definition and elements of commercial advertisement within Turkish Consumer Protection Law, then the concept of social media and social media tools followed by an examination on whether advertisements made through social media would fall under the scope of the said definition. Afterwards, advertising contracts and the parties of these contracts were examined, and during the examination, the concept of influencer is defined and the legal nature of the "influencer agreement" was investigated. Subsequently, types of unlawful advertisements, elements of these and the authorities tasked with supervising unlawful advertisements were discussed. In addition, recent developments on the supervision of "Influencer Marketing" on social media in the USA and the EU were briefly described. Lastly, civil liability of influencers and advertisers for damages caused by unlawful advertisements made on social media are examined and several legal grounds for such liability were identified.