Skip to main content
Influencer Marketing: Protection for Consumers from #sponsored Posts on Social Media Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Influencer Marketing: Protection for Consumers from #sponsored Posts on Social Media

We all know how important advertising is in the business world. Traders use advertisements as marketing tools to inform customers and consumers about their products. With the rise of technology and social media, advertising is now taking diverse forms. Companies are increasingly turning to a more powerful tool, the ‘influencer’, to advertise their products. This phenomenon is also evident locally.  This article purports to analyse what constitutes influencer marketing and the protection afforded to consumers by Maltese law. What is an ‘influencer’? Maltese law does not define what an influencer is. However, the Consumer Affairs Act (the ‘Act’) defines a…
Google Shopping: The Saga Continues Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Google Shopping: The Saga Continues

Following an antitrust investigation, in 2017 the European Commission had fined Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. a record €2.4 billion for abuse of Google’s dominant position. In brief, it found that Google was self-preferencing, by presenting results from its own Google Shopping first upon a so called “Google search”. On appeal to the General Court, the fine was confirmed in 2021. The General Court only accepted part of Google and Alphabet’s argument, namely that there was no negative anti-competitive effect on the market for general search services. Google and Alphabet further appealed the General Court’s judgment to the Court of…
Annalies Muscat
12th January 2024
The Rise of the Influencer: Consumer Protection and #Sponsored Content Antitrust, Competition and Trade

The Rise of the Influencer: Consumer Protection and #Sponsored Content

Are you an influencer? Do you earn money or other benefits by creating content on social media? Influencers that are offered deals to advertise a brand’s products over social media platforms will qualify as traders and should thus disclose their adverts in a transparent manner. Over the coming weeks, the European Commission will be screening online posts to identify any sponsored posts uploaded to social media by influencers which could mislead consumers. This article will briefly consider your obligations, as an influencer, on the digital market. The rise of social media has given brand owners the ability to push their…
Laura Spiteri
24th October 2023
Mamo TCV Advocates: EU flag
CJEU Rules that FDI cannot Restrict Fundamental Freedoms Antitrust, Competition and Trade

CJEU Rules that FDI cannot Restrict Fundamental Freedoms

In a recent response to a request for a preliminary ruling made by a court in Hungary, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the ‘CJEU’) delivered an interesting ruling on the applicability of the Foreign Direct Investment Regulation (the ‘FDI Regulation’). The FDI Regulation establishes a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the European Union (the ‘EU’) on the grounds of security or public order by the Member States. In the recent Xella judgment, the Hungarian Court asked the CJEU whether preventing foreign investors – including companies based in the EU but over which a…
Laura Spiteri
6th September 2023
Civil Court (Commercial Section) on whether a #retrial of #liquidationproceedings is possible
Consumer Claims Tribunal Can Now Hear Claims of up to €10,000 Antitrust, Competition and Trade

Consumer Claims Tribunal Can Now Hear Claims of up to €10,000

On 10 July 2023, the Maltese Parliament resolved in favour of several amendments to the Consumer Affairs Act. These amendments serve two purposes. Firstly, the Consumer Claims Tribunal can now hear consumer claims of up to €10,000. This amendment represents a significant increase in the value of the claims that can be heard by the arbiter given the previous threshold of €5,000. This means that consumers can now opt to go to the Tribunal rather than initiate Court proceedings for a greater number of cases. Secondly, provision has now been made for the use of video conferencing in Tribunal proceedings…
Annalies Muscat
14th July 2023