AGCom Codice di Condotta audit — Italy influencer compliance for non-Italian brands

How the audit works

The audit cross-references the AGCOM Codice di Condotta (Delibera 197/25/CONS, adopted 23 July 2025, published 5 August 2025), the minors-protection guidelines, and TUSMA. Each rule maps to a binary question with severity level (critical / high / medium) and legal citation. Final verdict is compliant / with warnings / non-compliant.

AGCOM runs automated checks on the first 3 hashtags of sponsored posts and on video overlays. AGCOM registry obligation kicks in above 500K followers on any platform OR 1M average views in the past 6 months. Fines double for minors-targeted content (€600K max).

This is operational guidance based on the published text. Not legal advice. For high-value campaigns or sensitive categories (gambling, crypto, alcohol, medicine), validate with qualified Italian counsel.

How a non-Italian brand audits an Italian-creator campaign against AGCom Codice di Condotta in 6 passes

Non-Italian brand teams running paid campaigns to Italian creators or Italian audiences in 2026 should run every booking through a six-pass AGCom check before contract signature. The obligations of Delibera 197/25/CONS (adopted 23 July 2025, published 5 August 2025) fall on the influencer, with sanction ceilings of €250,000 for general breaches and €600,000 where minors are involved, but a non-compliant creator still puts the brand's campaign at risk. The Guidelines (Annex A) treat as influencers only creators who meet cumulative requirements, including a stable and effective link with the Italian economy, so a campaign aimed at Italy does not by itself bring a foreign creator under the Codice.

The six-pass workflow runs:

(1) confirm the creator's tier versus the AGCom threshold — 500,000 followers on at least one platform OR 1 million average monthly views over the past 6 months, counted per platform, triggers registration on the AGCom Elenco; below that threshold the disclosure obligations still apply but registration does not;

(2) check that an over-threshold creator shows «in elenco AGCOM» in the bio and is registered under Delibera 197/25/CONS — booking an over-threshold creator who is not registered is a contract-stage compliance failure;

(3) verify the creator's prior Italian-campaign disclosure samples and confirm `#pubblicità` or `#adv` sits in the first three hashtags AND, for video content, in an on-screen overlay — English `#ad` or `#sponsored` alone fails AGCom regardless of audience demographics;

(4) flag content aimed at or featuring minors for stricter handling — the €600,000 ceiling applies there, gambling, tobacco and prescription medicines are banned for everyone, and alcohol ads must not target minors;

(5) write the Italian disclosure wording you expect into the contract, together with the brand's approval rights;

(6) keep the brief, the contract and post screenshots in the campaign file, since an AGCom query can arrive after the campaign ends.

The Collabios AGCom audit widget above walks through these checks in about five minutes, whether or not you book through Collabios.

How a non-Italian creator with Italian audience implications stays AGCom-compliant

Non-Italian creators (UK, German, French, Spanish, Arabic-speaking diaspora) with material Italian audience shares should first check whether the AGCom Codice di Condotta applies to them at all: the Guidelines (Annex A to Delibera 197/25/CONS) treat as influencers only creators who meet cumulative requirements, including a significant number of users in Italy and a stable and effective link with the Italian economy, on top of the relevance thresholds. The five practical implications are:

(1) disclosure language should follow the audience — a UK creator posting a paid collaboration for an Italian audience should add `#pubblicità` or `#adv` near the start of the Italian-targeted post, on top of whatever ASA / CAP disclosure the UK audience needs; for cross-audience posts, stack the disclosures (`#ad #pubblicità #publicité`) at the start rather than rely on a UK-only `#ad`;

(2) registration on the AGCom Elenco applies only to relevant influencers: 500,000 followers on at least one platform or 1 million average monthly views over 6 months, counted per platform (followers are not summed across platforms), plus the other cumulative requirements;

(3) content aimed at or featuring minors carries stricter rules, and gambling, tobacco and prescription-medicine promotion is banned under the Codice;

(4) the obligations sit with the influencer, so a creator who falls under the Codice carries the sanction exposure directly (up to €250,000, or €600,000 where minors are involved), independent of any contract indemnification from the brand;

(5) if you are unsure whether you fall under the Codice, apply the Italian disclosure anyway on Italian-targeted posts: it costs nothing and protects the brand relationship.

The Collabios AGCom audit widget above runs the same checks for non-Italian creators as for Italian creators.

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