Influencer ethics panel goes dormant without handling a case
Monday 19th October 2026 on 12:01 in
Denmark
A Danish ethics panel for influencers is going dormant after handling no complaints or cases on its own initiative, DR reports. The Danish Union of Journalists, which spent 810,000 kroner establishing the panel, says it lacked support from influencers and companies.
Launched in April 2025, the panel was intended to promote ethical conduct and transparency in the influencer industry. Influencers could join voluntarily and agree to follow 18 guidelines. These included a rule against advertising unhealthy food to audiences with many children.
About 200 influencers signed up, a small number compared with the thousands working in the industry, said Allan Boye Thulstrup, chair of the Danish Union of Journalists. He said the panel was being put into “dormancy” because it had not received broad support from influencers or businesses that use them to advertise products.
The union reported in April that the panel had not dealt with a single complaint during its first year and had not opened any cases itself. Thulstrup said he was disappointed but did not consider the initiative a failure, pointing to the guidelines and website that remain in place. “There is just no panel or muscle to enforce the guidelines,” he said.
The union spent 810,000 kroner setting up and running the panel. Thulstrup said much of the money went toward developing the guidelines, which still exist.
Morten Münster, an influencer with more than one million followers across social media, was among those who joined. He told DR he was “really sorry” the panel was closing and would continue following its guidelines. Münster said influencers and content creators still needed to organise and set clear standards, especially while marketing laws were complicated and unclear. He added that the initiative only made sense with broad support from both companies and influencers.
Nathalie Larsen, creative director at advertising agency Lead, said the industry was harming its own credibility by failing to support the panel. She said influencers had repeatedly faced criticism over trustworthiness and weak ethical standards.