Influencers, social creators, bloggers, streamers: all denominations that have come into common use to indicate the activity of those, through platforms, they create fashions, give advice, sponsor products, have thousands or millions of followers and therefore, in various ways, manage to influence the market. Earning even lavish earnings, so much so as to have transformed an apparently playful or recreational initiative into a real job.
“They too have to pay taxes”the Economy Minister clarified in recent days, Giancarlo Giorgetti, about the taxman, explaining that “we need to look for the taxable base in activities that have not been considered until now”. In short, the doubt is that behind this work there is a good share of evasion, also favored by the absence of regulatory frameworks and clear rules. For this reason, the Communications Authority also struck a blow in mid-July, opening a sixty-day public consultation on the measures to ensure compliance, by digital content creators, with the provisions of the Consolidated Law on media services audiovisual.
In practice, transparency is also needed in this sector, since “the work of the influencer works in a similar way to that of audiovisual media service providers”. On the basis of recent estimates, the subjects in question in Italy are around 350 thousand. And according to the digital strategy and communication company, DeRev, they generate a turnover of over 300 million euros a year, destined to rise to 350 million by the end of 2023.
The most profitable sector is that “Fashion and Beauty”which went from 15% in 2022 to 25% in 2023, while “Health and Fitness” fell from 13% to 6.8%. Youtube, Instagram and TikTok they are the most profitable platforms, where you can already be paid with a pool of 3,000-5,000 followers. To give some examples, on Instagram the content of a small creator is worth from 100 to 300 euros, that of an influencer with 50,000 followers from 300 to 850 euros and so on, up to 75,000 euros.
On TikTok, payouts for “celebrity” content with millions of followers can go as high as 80 thousand euros, while micro influencers with a following of a few thousand people can get dai 50 to 1,500 euros. Impressive figures that, over the course of a year, manage to yield millions of euros, not necessarily all declared through the VAT number. Yet, even in the sector, the need for greater protection is felt. Just this year, after reports of unpaid payments, the first union was born, Assoinfluencer, which asks for a reference Ateco coderecognizable by the entire public administration, also to obtain social shock absorbers and tax breaks.