Overlabeling in influencer marketing refers to the excessive labeling of posts as advertising or sponsored content. This practice arose from the fear of legal action, leading to not only paid content but also unpaid posts or those without any promotional character being marked as advertising. In some cases, entire channels or blogs were even labeled as advertising across the board.

The problem with overlabeling is that it blurs the clear distinction between editorial content and advertising, which is precisely what the labeling requirement is meant to guarantee. If almost all of an influencer’s content is declared as advertising, users lose the ability to distinguish between genuinely commercial posts and other content.

Whether overlabeling is legally problematic is currently under discussion. Even if it is not necessarily considered illegal, excessive labeling can have negative legal consequences because it undermines the original intention of the labeling requirement – the clear identification of paid posts.