Engage-(wl 3777)-Influencer Advertising on Digital Media: An Indian Political Economy of Communications Perspective

With the increasing digital media consumption, the reach of social media influencers is also growing. Thousands of businesses compete in marketing their products on practically every platform we use, so it is only logical that they are looking for new ways to communicate their messages. It is here that the role of social media influencers becomes critical. With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the world, India has also seen a surge in the usage of digital media platforms where the major role has been played by social media influencers and content creators. To regulate the multitude of advertising and promotional content distributed across various platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and therefore make the consumers aware of when something is being sponsored or promoted over digital media platforms to influence their opinion or behavior for commercial gain (immediate or consequent), the ASCI released new guidelines for influencer advertising in digital media. The present study focuses on the impact that the guidelines issued by the ASCI and the Indian government's IT rules have on influencer advertising on digital media from a political economy of communications perspective.