Earlier this week reports about how influencers are offered collaborations under the circumstances that they are kept secret went viral. One of the reports describes how companies are asking influencers to represent them using their real names but without declaring that it’s a collaboration which is illegal in most of the world.

The issue is that there is a widespread lack of knowledge when it comes to social media marketing, which is not so strange since the market is new. To help with the situation, the involved authority in Sweden (Konsumentverket) has put together guidelines to help both influencers and brands stay on the right side of the law. The latest edition was published on December 1 last year, and we have made a list of the five most important points.

• All social media marketing must be in compliance with the Swedish marketing laws (MFL).
• It must be easy for the receiver to identify when a post is an ad and when it’s not.
• It has to be clear who (or which company) is selling something, no matter who the influencer is.
• If the influencer is paid for the job, the post needs to marked as an ad.
• It’s illegal to market towards kids that are younger than 12 years of age.