The Hungarian Competition Authority Is Stepping Up Enforcement: Influencers in FocusThe recent case involving Coca-Cola and influencer Whisper Ton has attracted significant media attention, resulting in a HUF 5 million fine for the soft drinks manufacturer, while the influencer received a warning. This makes one thing clear: the regulation and enforcement of influencer marketing remains a long-term focus of the Hungarian Competition Authority (GVH), regardless of the size of an influencer’s followers or the business under investigation.
The Whisper Ton case is by no means an isolated incident: the GVH regularly launches proceedings concerning influencer marketing. Just a few months earlier, the case involving Csenge Forstner was concluded with a similar outcome: SHEIN and L’Oréal were each fined HUF 4 million, while the influencer agency (PFR) received a fine amounting HUF 1 million. In 2023, the GVH reviewed the activities of 28 Hungarian influencers and found that only 20% of the influencers were fully compliant with the relevant regulation. Subsequently, in 2024, competition supervision proceedings were initiated against six influencers, including Bence Halmi and Roland Kása, also known as Rolix. In 2026, the authorities carried out another broad-ranging review, which found that although the advertising practices had improved, there were still cases where influencers not or not sufficiently marked the content as advertisement.
#Advertisement – how should influencers mark their posts?
The GVH identifies very similar issues in its decisions: the ad labeling is either completely missing or, although included in the post, is not sufficiently clear to consumers. Typical examples include ad labeling appearing only at the end of the post, buried in a long list of hashtags, becoming visible only after scrolling, being too small or difficult to read, or being written in a foreign language. Stand-alone labels such as #promotion, #partner, #sponsoredcontent or #collaboration may also fail to make it immediately clear to consumers that they are viewing an advertisement. It is also unlawful for an influencer to promote their own product or service without disclosing it as advertisement.
The authorities’ expectation, by contrast, is clear: the commercial nature of the content must be immediately apparent in every case, without the consumer having to scroll further. The ad labelling must be understandable, unambiguous, clearly visible and prominent, and it must appear in the same language as the text of the post. Based on the GVH’s most recent decisions, the ad labelling is expected to appear at the very beginning of the post, before any other text, using the #ad or #advertisement hashtag. The paid partnership label provided by the relevant platform may also be used.
Who is will be responsible at the end of the day?
Undertakings are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of influencer marketing, and their contracts with influencers often include requirements for proper advertisement labeling. However, they often fail to establish adequate procedures to monitor compliance with these requirements. Nevertheless, as the cases mentioned above demonstrate, influencers still frequently fail to disclose their posts properly.
A contract between an undertaking and a content creator does not exclude the brands’ liability. Under the principle of interest-based liability, any undertaking that has a direct interest in the sale of a product or service may be held responsible for the commercial practice, even where the practice is carried out by another party based on a contractual arrangement. Accordingly, in the case of an advertisement published by an influencer, liability may arise for the brand commissioning the marketing service, the marketing or influencer agency involved in the campaign and, ultimately, the influencer who creates and publishes the content.
Influencer marketing is booming
While the Hungarian influencer market was estimated to be worth approximately HUF 1 billion in 2020, it is now estimated to be worth between HUF 8 and 12 billion. As consumers’ content consumption habits continue to evolve, the importance of influencer marketing is steadily increasing and the market is expanding. It is therefore no coincidence that the authorities are paying particular attention to this area, as this channel may be one of the easiest ways for brands to reach consumers.
Based on the GVH’s communication, we can expect further proceedings examining influencer marketing. For anyone operating in this market as a content creator, agency or brand, it is becoming increasingly unwise to rely on the assumption that an ad labeling can simply be squeezed in somewhere in the post. All participants in the marketing chain should therefore take a conscious approach to ensure that the content published on social media fully complies with the applicable legal requirements.