Former rugby star Brian O'Driscoll and fitness coach Caroline O'Mahony were the two social media influencers served with compliance notices by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) last year for breaching consumer law by failing to disclose the commercial nature of their social media posts.
Mr O'Driscoll, who has 370,000 followers on Instagram, and Ms O'Mahony, who has over 820,000 Instagram followers, were among 26 influencers contacted by the CCPC in April 2024 to remind them of their legal obligations in relation to the labelling of content.
Both influencers were later served with compliance notices when it was found that posts on their accounts continued to breach consumer law.
In the cases of both Brian O'Driscoll and Caroline O’Mahony, they were found to have engaged in misleading practices, by not properly labelling Instagram posts that they were being paid for.
If an influencer is earning money from a particular post, they must disclose this by, for example, using the #ad hashtag.
If this is not declared, that is a breah of consumer law.
A compliance notice directs a business or individual to remedy any breach.
However, if that is not done the individual or business can be fined up to €5,000 and face imprisonment.
The details of the breaches have been published as part of the CCPC's 2024 Consumer Protection List, which outlines the organisation's enforcement activities for the year.
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The list includes traders from a range of sectors including supermarket chains, department stores, bars and restaurants.
However, for the first time the 2024 list also includes actions taken against social media influencers.
The CCPC said it has several investigations ongoing in relation to influencers and further outcomes are expected this year.
Chairperson of the CCPC Brian McHugh said: "Influencer marketing on social media can significantly shape consumers’ opinions and purchasing behaviours so it’s important that when a consumer sees commercial content on social media, they can instantly recognise it for what it is.
"Our research shows that almost a quarter of consumers who purchased a product as a result of an influencer promoting it subsequently felt misled.
"We will continue to conduct regular unannounced inspections and would remind influencers that they need to follow the law or potentially face legal consequences."
Also in the 2024 Consumer Protection List are details of five traders prosecuted in court, including Tesco and Homesavers.
In addition to the social media influencers, 20 other traders were also served with compliance notices.
A total of 47 fines were served on retailers including Aldi, Brown Thomas, Currys, Dunnes Stores, Londis and Spar.
The cause of the fines ranged from misleading consumers by displaying the incorrect selling price of goods, to failing to indicate the selling price of goods entirely.
The enforcement actions came from 205 consumer protection inspections in 2024, up from 183 in 2023, an increase of 12%.
This included 164 in-store inspections, 41 online inspections and 21 vehicle-trader inspections.
Earlier this month the CCPC conducted 58 unannounced inspections across seven counties; Cavan, Dublin, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan and Roscommon.
In 2023 the CCPC calculated consumer harm of nearly €1 billion per year.
Mr McHugh said: "Currently, the level of fines that can be issued for breaches of consumer protection law is not a deterrent for large businesses and that is why we are calling on the Government to give us the power to issue meaningful fines to companies breaking consumer law.
"Allowing the CCPC to directly impose large fines would send a clear signal to businesses that they must treat consumers fairly or face serious consequences."
