The board operating under the Trade Ministry, which scrutinizes social media promotions, imposed a total fine of close to TL 6.4 million (around $188,000) on five influencers last year and 11 in the first half of this year, according to a report on Monday.

The board set up within the ministry to audit advertisements made through social media platforms, analyze their activity and impose certain penalties, as per information obtained by Anadolu Agency (AA).

To monitor the activities of influencers, referred to as "social media influencers," in the regulations, the Advertising Self-Regulatory Board was assigned, and the project for scanning social media advertisements with artificial intelligence commenced in March 2022.

With the project, the rate of influencer posts that did not clearly and understandably indicate that they were advertisements decreased from 57% to 11%. At the same time, due to the work carried out by the board, the number of complaints regarding social media advertisements has increased as consumer awareness has grown in recent times.

Consumer complaints were examined by experts, and those that met the application criteria were evaluated. In cases where the board detected violations, necessary administrative sanctions were applied.

In the first six months of this year, the board decided to impose 39 suspension penalties and 11 suspension and administrative fines on influencers. The suspension penalty required the correction or removal of advertisements that violated the regulations.

Considering factors such as the unfair content of the illegal post, its repetition, the extent of its impact based on the influencer's follower count and the benefits and economic status obtained by the influencer from sharing the post, suspension and administrative fines were also applied together.

While the administrative fine imposed on an influencer who advertised against the legislation last year was TL 347,128, this amount was increased at the revaluation rate and became TL 550,059 in 2024.

Accordingly, administrative fines totaling TL 1.35 million were imposed on five influencers last year, as the report indicated. In the first six months of the year, it was decided to impose administrative fines totaling nearly TL 5.035 million for 11 influencers. Thus, TL 6.39 million in fines were given over 1.5 years.

Moreover, administrative sanctions were applied to 77 social media accounts last year, while this figure reached 50 in the first half of 2024. Administrative sanctions were imposed on influencers' posts due to reasons such as advertising a product or service of a brand without clearly stating that it was an advertisement or engaging in covert promotion.

In addition to this, administrative sanctions were imposed on some influencers for reasons such as using statements containing health claims, directing people to health services such as clinics, hospitals or doctors, promoting products prohibited from being advertised, using statements exceeding the definition of cosmetic products and including illegal statements in the advertisement of dietary supplements.