Influencers in Colombia: more rules, more responsibility… and perhaps, more trust

Being an influencer or content creator stopped being just about posting photos, making videos, or recommending something we love a long time ago.

Today, it can be a real profession, a business, a major source of income, and, in some cases, a powerful voice capable of influencing the decisions of thousands or even millions of people.

And that is precisely why Colombia has been discussing how to regulate this activity for some time now.

One of the most relevant projects is Senate Bill 394 of 2025, introduced to regulate and promote digital content creation in Colombia. The initiative has already passed its first debate and received a positive report to continue its progress, but it is important to clarify this right from the start: it is still just a bill, not an active law.

Beyond what the final text turns out to be, this discussion raises an interesting question for those who work professionally in social media:

What responsibilities arise when our voice also becomes a business?

First: Who could this apply to?

One of the key points of the project is precisely defining who can be considered a professional influencer or content creator.

The proposed text refers to individuals or legal entities that create, produce, and distribute digital content in a professional and systematic manner, maintaining editorial responsibility over what they publish.

This is crucial because not everyone with an Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, or any other social media account automatically becomes an influencer under this concept.

The discussion is primarily aimed at those who have turned content creation into an economic or professional activity: talent who monetize their audience, promote products or services, develop commercial collaborations, or exert a significant influence within the digital ecosystem.

And that is probably the most sensible distinction.

It shouldn't be about regulating what an everyday person thinks or posts on their personal feeds.

It's about recognizing that when there is a commercial activity, commercial responsibilities come with it.

If you're paid to say it, say it

Perhaps the easiest principle to understand is also one of the most important: transparency.

If a brand pays for a post, sends a product in exchange for promotion, or if there is any kind of business relationship behind a recommendation, the audience has the right to know.

The bill proposes precisely that sponsored or commercial content must be clearly identifiable to those who consume it.

But this idea wasn't born yesterday.

Since 2020, the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) has recommended that influencers and advertisers clearly identify the commercial relationships behind any post, avoiding presenting paid advertising as if it were a spontaneous and completely personal recommendation.

And it makes perfect sense.

Getting paid to recommend a product doesn't automatically make that recommendation fake.

Hiding that a commercial relationship exists, however, does alter the information your viewers receive.

Keep it real with your audience

In reality, a big part of this entire conversation can be summed up in something incredibly simple:

Don't mislead others.

Social media has created fresh new formats, but it hasn't eliminated the basic principles of a commercial relationship.

If you promote a product, its features must be real.

If you promise a result, you should be able to back up that claim.

If there is an important condition, it shouldn't be hidden in microscopic fine print while the main message promises something completely different.

Colombian consumer protection legislation already establishes that commercial information can be considered misleading when it leads or can lead to error, affecting people's economic decisions. The SIC has also recently reiterated that advertising spread through social media and digital platforms must be clear, sufficient, verifiable, and true to reality.

In other words, TikTok is not a little independent kingdom where the Consumer Statute vanishes the moment you open the app.

Having influence also means understanding its impact

The bill also introduces concepts of social responsibility, protection of minors, and prevention of practices like disinformation, cyberbullying, and certain forms of harmful content.

Here, the conversation gets a bit more complex.

Because regulating content should never become an excuse to limit freedom of expression.

In fact, the project's text itself recognizes content creation as an expression of that freedom and states that its regulation must not be interpreted as an undue limitation of this right.

But freedom of expression and responsibility are not incompatible concepts.

A person is free to share an opinion.

They can criticize.

They can share their experience.

They can use humor.

They can express ideas that others completely disagree with.

It is a completely different thing, however, to use an audience to spread false commercial claims, present advertising as an independent opinion, or deliberately harm others with misleading information.

And then, there's privacy

There is another responsibility that, for us, deserves just as much attention as advertising: respecting the private lives of others.

Working publicly on the internet doesn't mean everyone around a creator has signed away their privacy as well.

Family, partners, friends, colleagues, clients, and third parties are still individuals with their own rights.

Colombia also has personal data protection regulations based on principles such as purpose, freedom, truthfulness, transparency, and restricted access to personal information. Generally speaking, the processing of personal data must have a legitimate purpose and, except for legally foreseen exceptions, requires the authorization of the owner.

This doesn't mean that every accidental appearance of someone in a photo automatically creates a violation.

The legal reality is much more nuanced than that.

But there is a professional principle that should be easy to adopt even before consulting any legal code:

a person's audience doesn't belong to everyone else.

Exposing private conversations, personal data, intimate situations, or information about third parties just to boost engagement should make us think twice.

Maybe three times.

Professionalizing doesn't mean censoring

There is a tendency to view any internet regulation as an automatic threat.

And there are very good reasons to carefully analyze any rule that could affect freedom of expression.

But it is also important to recognize something key.

An industry starts being treated as professional when it also embraces professional responsibilities.

Transparent advertising.

Truthful information.

Respect for consumers.

Protection of minors.

Respect for privacy.

Clarity on when we are sharing an opinion and when we are selling a product.

None of this should weaken the work of creators.

In fact, it can make it much more trusted and credible.

Trust is also monetized

For those building a career around an audience, there is an asset that is even more valuable than follower count:

credibility.

You can buy ads.

You can gain reach.

You can master algorithms.

You can build a spectacular production.

But rebuilding trust once it has been lost is a much harder challenge.

That's why, regardless of how the Colombian bill progresses, there is one rule that doesn't need congressional approval:

Be transparent with your audience. Respect the privacy of others. And keep it real with the people who put their trust in you.

Not because a law might eventually force you to.

But because it is simply the best way to build a career that is truly worth keeping.

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Model: Jackson Stiffler