Social media influencers shouldn't mislead their followers by digitally enhancing products they're promoting.
The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland say customers should be able to make an informed decision about whether to buy a product or not.
Post-production techniques are not prohibited under current advertising rules, however influencers shouldn't be exploiting the lack of knowledge of their followers.
CEO of the ASAI, Orla Twomey, says people should be made aware when influencers are altering images, "If the extent of the photo-shopping is such that it actually is implying that's what you'll get when you use the product and that's not the case - that's misleading. If you're going to be using post-production techniques in a manner which you might mislead, it should be flagged."
Ms. Twomey also says they're not creating new advertising rules for social media, rather they are enforcing current standards accross all mediums.
"The issue that has arisen in the past couple of days, in relation to whether or not the ads are misleading because of photoshopping and similar techniques, is not one which has come to us through complaints up until now, but obviously it is something that we can look at."
