Once dominated by reality TV fame and a lack of transparency, influencer marketing has shed its early reputation and is entering a new era of accountability, according to new research from Kolsquare, Europe’s leading influencer marketing platform.
The new report, Influencer & Social Media Regulations in Europe: What Brands and Creators Need to Know in 2025–26, reveals that the UK is leading a continent-wide shift towards professionalisation, where compliance and transparency have become essential to credibility and commercial success.
The study finds that, alongside sweeping reforms across the EU, the UK is mirroring the European approach of prioritising transparency, consumer protection, and responsibility.
“Compliance is no longer a box-ticking exercise, it’s the hallmark of a serious, trustworthy creator or brand,” said Quentin Bordage, Kolsquare’s CEO and a member of the European Influencer Marketing Alliance (EIMA). “For the UK industry, this represents a critical step in building a sustainable, transparent, and professional influencer economy. Influencer marketing is still finding its structure and maturity, but this shifting landscape is also a huge opportunity.”
What is driving these changes?
Several forces are driving these changes, namely:
- Regulators like the Advertising Standards Authority and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are cracking down on hidden advertising and misleading claims on digital platforms.
- Thanks to the Online Safety Act (UK) and the Digital Services Act (EU), social networks must be accountable for advertising transparency, especially when minors are concerned.
- New EU rules on environmental claims are forcing brands and creators to prove their green credentials.
- The rise of AI and the spread of misinformation have created an urgent need to educate
- The Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (EU) introduced strict new rules recently requiring issue-based advertising to be more transparent.
Regulations across Europe will be further harmonised in 2025 when the Digital Fairness Act comes into force.
A higher industry standard
Kolsquare’s research highlights the rapid growth of certification and education initiatives across Europe. The UK’s Influencer Marketing Trade Body (IMTB), for example, is leading efforts to formalise influencer training and best practice in alignment with the European AdEthics framework, a global programme setting standards for influencer education, transparency, and social responsibility.
The report notes that transparency is now non-negotiable: every paid, gifted, or incentivised collaboration must be clearly labelled, and accountability extends equally to brands, agencies, and creators. For UK marketers, the shift puts renewed emphasis on proactive education, robust contracts, and consistent monitoring of influencer activity.
“Education is the real differentiator,” comments Scott Guthrie, Director General of the IMTB, quoted in the report. “Creators who understand and apply the rules are not just compliant, they’re more credible, more trusted, and ultimately more commercially valuable.”
Click here to read a copy of the report
About Kolsquare
Kolsquare is Europe’s leading Influencer Marketing platform, a data-driven solution that allows brands to scale their KOL Marketing strategies and implement authentic partnerships with KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders).
Kolsquare’s technology enables marketing professionals to easily identify the best content creators’ profiles by filtering their content and audience and to build and manage their campaigns from A to Z, including measuring results and benchmarking performance against competitors.
Kolsquare has built a thriving global community of influencer marketing experts and offers hundreds of customers (Coca-Cola, Netflix, Sony Music, Publicis, Sézane, Sephora, Lush, Hermès…) the latest Big Data, AI and Machine Learning technologies to drive inspiring partnerships, tapping into an exhaustive network of KOLs with more than 5,000 followers in 180 countries on Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat.
As a Certified B Corporation, Kolsquare has been pioneering Responsible Influence by championing transparency, ethical practices, and meaningful collaborations to inspire change.
Since October 2024, Kolsquare is part of Team.Blue, a leading digital enabler for businesses and entrepreneurs across Europe made up of over 60 successful brands in the fields of web hosting, domains, e-commerce, online compliance, lead generation, application solutions, and social media.
Kolsquare also acquired Woomio, an influencer marketing software that gives brands, agencies, and influencers detailed insights into the data that builds a strong basis for their collaborations.
