The Spanish Minister for Digital Transformation, José Luis Escrivá, announced this morning a decree by which the neighboring country will regulate the activity of influencers. As reported by Spanish public television, the aim is to approve them with the rest of the actors in the audiovisual field.
In this way, Spain will classify as influencers or “users of special relevance (UER)” those who invoice 300,000 euros, those who exceed one million followers on a single platform or two million in their overall activity, and have posted or shared twenty-four or more videos per year.
This measure has generated a lot of controversy among various content creators, who say that it “goes against freedom of expression” and that they call it a very aggressive regulation. However, for practical purposes, the rights and obligations of traditional media are being equated with digital media. Both have their impact, and the internet has a big impact on young people.
The most relevant implications are that the age at which each creator’s content is appropriate will have to be determined, and advertising will also be controlled. Basically, it will determine whether this is appropriate for the age range of this content, in addition to regulating covert advertising.
In addition, this measure affects all those influencers who have their activity in Spain, without the need for them to be residents of the country. This alludes, therefore, to all those Spanish YouTubers who packed their bags for the Principality.
An example would be the controversy generated in many European countries by the fact that some YouTubers with a child audience advertise betting houses or investments in cryptocurrencies, since they can influence many children who still do not have the judgment to discern if that is a good idea investment or the consequences it may have. This has already led other parliaments to legislate on these issues.
All these issues were imposed on television and other media with the aim of protecting children from inappropriate content. And now, these measures of the neighboring country, have the pretension of bringing this protection to the digital environment.
