As influencer partnerships become a key component of brand marketing strategies, new liability risks are emerging, necessitating specialised insurance solutions.
The advertising landscape has undergone a fundamental shift as brands redirect their marketing budgets from traditional media to the platforms where consumers now spend most of their time: social media. This transformation has led to the rise of a new economy driven by social media influencers, ranging from those earning modest side income to multimillionaire content creators with global followings.
However, this rapidly growing sector presents unique challenges that traditional insurance products were not designed to address. As influencer partnerships become more sophisticated and widespread, both content creators and the brands that hire them face potential liability risks that could lead to significant financial consequences.
The Rise of the Influencer Economy
Chris Cooper, SVP, U.S. Head of Media & Professions at QBE North America, discussed the vast financial potential of influencer marketing. “There’s a huge range in influencer revenue. At the top end, you have celebrity influencers earning millions of dollars. At the other end, it’s people with just a thousand followers who might earn very little money,” he said.
“In the middle, you have influencers who typically represent the greatest risk and opportunity. These are influencers who earn tens of thousands of dollars a year. This demographic represents creators who have moved beyond hobbyist status but haven’t yet reached the point where they employ business managers or have sophisticated risk management strategies.”
This shift in advertising spend mirrors broader consumer behaviour changes. “Advertising dollars have moved away from traditional print media, digital banners, and TV commercials, and have instead focused on platforms where people are spending their time—primarily social media,” Cooper explained. “Much of this advertising comes in the form of sponsored reviews or influencers sharing their experiences with products and how they’ve helped in their daily lives.”
Emerging Liability Risks in Influencer Marketing
The authentic and personal nature of influencer content, which makes it so effective, also gives rise to unique liability risks. Unlike traditional advertising, which often undergoes multiple layers of legal review, influencer content is frequently created quickly by individuals who may not fully understand the legal implications of their posts.
Cooper explained how QBE became aware of this growing issue: “We’re a traditional media liability insurer that has been in this space since 2013 in North America and longer in other parts of the world. We insure companies in the business of creating and disseminating content against risks such as copyright infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, false light, and right of publicity.”
QBE’s existing relationships with specialised law firms revealed a growing trend. “We work with several law firms specialising in advertising law, copyright law, and defamation that began informing us they were defending non-media companies for claims arising from content created by small or midsize influencers who had made mistakes,” Cooper said.
The financial burden of these errors typically falls on the brands rather than the influencers themselves. “Since these influencers generally don’t have insurance or sufficient assets, the larger brands that hire them end up shouldering the full responsibility in terms of claims payment, claims handling, and defence counsel,” he added.
A particularly common issue involves music licensing. “We’ve seen numerous slip-ups by influencers and brands where they’ve allowed music to play in the background of content,” Cooper said. “Even something as simple as having music playing in the background while recording promotional content for a brand can lead to copyright infringement if a proper synchronization licence is not in place.”
The distinction between personal and commercial use creates additional complexity. “Most platforms have blanket synchronization licensing agreements with music publishers, but these agreements are strictly for personal use,” Cooper explained. “However, once content shifts to advertising and commercial purposes, the available music library narrows significantly. There’s a fine line between when an influencer is posting for personal use versus commercial use, and many are unaware of this distinction.”
The timing of legal intervention also plays a critical role in determining outcomes. “The law firms told us they were receiving cases very late in the process, which hurt both the brand’s and influencer’s chances of successfully defending their cases,” Cooper said.
QBE’s Specialised Solution for Influencer Media Liability
Drawing on its extensive experience in traditional media liability insurance, QBE developed a targeted solution, The Influencer by QBE, which addresses the unique challenges brands face when working with influencers. The solution combines education, insurance coverage, and streamlined claims management.
“Rather than simply writing policies for every influencer, we created a product that addresses the core problems our larger clients were facing,” Cooper said. “This product recognises that even companies with existing media liability policies still face challenges with influencer-related claims due to high deductibles and coverage gaps.”
Education forms a key part of QBE’s approach. “We really focused on the educational aspect by creating a short learning module. A 30-minute video covers the major topics influencers need to be aware of, followed by a brief quiz,” Cooper explained. “The video covers essential areas of media and advertising law that influencers need to understand, including copyright, trademark, defamation, and the right of publicity.”
The insurance coverage itself is designed to reflect the unique structure of influencer partnerships. “The policy covers both the brand and the influencer, but solely for the actions of the influencer,” Cooper said. “This isn’t intended to replace a larger media liability or Errors & Omissions policy for a large company. It’s designed to address the specific influencer-related risks we kept hearing about.”
The coverage structure aligns with how influencer campaigns typically operate, providing dedicated coverage for each campaign. “Influencers are usually hired for specific campaigns with contractual obligations. For example, they might be contracted to create 20 posts about a lavender latte, and then another contract might require 10 posts about a pumpkin spice latte,” Cooper said. “We’ve set an occurrence-based £250K limit for each of those contracts.”
The Influencer was launched in mid-August 2025 and is distributed through brokers who manage the process of getting influencers signed up for the training and coverage. “The brand and broker can direct influencers to our dedicated web page, where they can provide basic information and complete the required training,” Cooper said.
Looking ahead, the scale of influencer marketing continues to expand. “Some brands and large companies now work with thousands of influencers,” Cooper said. “As this market grows, specialised risk management solutions will become increasingly critical in protecting both the creators and the brands that partner with them.”