# Influencer Self-Disclosure Practices on Instagram: A Multi-Country Longitudinal Study

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.09202 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.09202/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 12 Jul 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Evaluating LLM-Generated Legal Explanations for Regulatory Compliance in Social Media Influencer Marketing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.08111/) (2025)
- [Turning Trust to Transactions: Tracking Affiliate Marketing and FTC Compliance in YouTube's Influencer Economy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.04383/) (2026)
- [ChildSafeAds Shared Task 2026: Commercial Content in Child-Facing YouTube Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.19165/) (2026)
- [N"urnberg NLP at ChildSafeAds 2026: Structurally Dissimilar Voter Ensembles under Four Levels of Data Access](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.34986/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper presents a longitudinal study of more than ten years of activity on Instagram consisting of over a million posts by 400 content creators from four countries: the US, Brazil, Netherlands and Germany. Our study shows differences in the professionalisation of content monetisation between countries, yet consistent patterns; significant differences in the frequency of posts yet similar user engagement trends; and significant differences in the disclosure of sponsored content in some countries, with a direct connection with national legislation. We analyse shifts in marketing strategies due to legislative and platform feature changes, focusing on how content creators adapt disclosure methods to different legal environments. We also analyse the impact of disclosures and sponsored posts on engagement and conclude that, although sponsored posts have lower engagement on average, properly disclosing ads does not reduce engagement further. Our observations stress the importance of disclosure compliance and can guide authorities in developing and monitoring them more effectively.