From Ong Tze Chin
Social media influencers’ marketing has had a powerful impact on the way consumers perceive and engage with brands.
By leveraging personal connection and authenticity, influencers can shape opinions, drive trends, and influence purchasing decisions more effectively than traditional advertising.
Influencer advertising is powerful because it merges the personal touch of social connection with the persuasive force of marketing, allowing brands to reach audiences in authentic and engaging ways.
Their ability to communicate directly with followers creates a sense of trust and relatability, making promotions feel more genuine and persuasive.
This has allowed businesses, especially smaller brands, to reach highly targeted audiences at a relatively low cost.
However, the rise of influencer marketing has also blurred the line between personal recommendation and paid promotion, raising concerns about transparency, ethics and consumer manipulation.
Recently, the rise of fraud, scams, promotion of unregulated or illegal offers, deep-fakes and identity misuse in the fraudulent advertising of influencer marketing has resulted in significant financial losses for consumers, damaged brand reputations, and eroded public trust in online marketing and social media platforms.
Despite the lack of clear regulations specifically governing social media influencers and the limited accountability of online platforms, issues such as misleading or deceptive conduct, false representation and unfair practices are regulated under the Consumer Protection Act 1999 (CPA).
Under Part II of the CPA, Section 9 governs misleading conduct, and Section 10 deals with false and misleading representation.
Other provisions include misleading indication as to price (Section 12), bait advertising (Section 13), gifts, prizes, free offers, etc. (Section 14), claim that goods are limited (Section 15), demanding or accepting payment without intending to supply (Section 16), and future services contract (Section 17)
In addition, under Section 18, any conduct or representation relating to goods or services that appear in an advertisement is presumed to be made by the person who directly or indirectly claims to supply them, the person on whose behalf the advertisement is made, or both parties.
Basically, no person in Malaysia shall engage in misleading or deceptive conduct, false representation, or unfair practices — all of which are offences under Section 25 of the CPA.
If the offender is a corporate body, Section 25(1)(a) provides for a fine not exceeding RM250,000 for a first offence and thereafter for a fine not exceeding RM500,000.
For an individual who engages in misleading or deceptive conduct, false representation or unfair practices, the penalty is a fine not exceeding RM100,000 or to imprisonment for up to three years or to both for the initial offence. For a subsequent offence, the penalty under Section 25(1)(b) can rise to a RM250,000 fine or six years in jail.
The Act clearly covers social media influencers’ marketing, but there is a lack of enforcement from the domestic trade and cost of living ministry resulting in minimal oversight, weak deterrence against unethical practices, and continued misuse of influencer platforms for misleading or deceptive promotions.
Despite the ministry receiving 2,608 complaints in 2023 for misleading advertising and 1,281 complaints in 2022, no one has been convicted under the relevant sections of the Consumer Protection Act 1999.
While Bukit Aman’s criminal investigation department and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission faces challenges in its enforcement, coordinated enforcement efforts led by the domestic trade ministry should be prioritised to safeguard Malaysian consumers.
Ong Tze Chin is a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaya’s law faculty.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
