Influencer Marketing Class Action Lawsuits Are Going Viral. Here’s How to Protect Your Brand.

Class Action Lawsuits Are Coming for Influencer Campaigns

If you’re a brand using influencer marketing to drive sales, you’re now on legal notice: Failing to enforce proper disclosures is no longer just an FTC issue. It’s a class action waiting to happen.‍

On May 1, 2025, a Lexology article by Stephanie Sheridan, Meegan Brooks, Michael Meuti, and Hannah Laubach at Benesch Law, formally declared it:

"Influencer marketing lawsuits are going viral" and with them, a new era of legal enforcement in the creator economy has begun.

This wave of nationwide class actions is targeting not only brands, but also the influencers themselves, signaling a clear shift in how courts and regulators view social media marketing.

At SwayID, we believe this shift is overdue and we’ve been building infrastructure to protect against exactly this kind of exposure.

In the last few months, class action lawsuits have been filed against major fashion retailers, supplement brands, energy drink companies, and even the influencers themselves. The lawsuits allege that sponsored posts misled consumers by hiding or burying disclosures like #AD or omitting them altogether.

These cases aren’t just PR disasters. They carry massive financial risk, including:

• Claims under consumer protection laws in California, Florida, and Illinois
• Allegations of unjust enrichment and deceptive pricing
• Damages in the tens of millions of dollars, like the $50M class action filed against Revolve in April 2025

What’s Changing and Why It Matters Now

For years, the FTC’s Endorsement Guides were treated as soft guidelines. But recent lawsuits show that plaintiffs are now weaponizing these Guides to hold brands and influencers financially accountable for deceptive posts.

Even posts with disclosures like #AD may be noncompliant if those tags are buried, confusing, or too vague for a reasonable consumer to spot.

Influencer marketing has hit an inflection point:
The legal system is catching up to the UGC explosion and brands that ignore compliance are being held liable.

🚨 Real Case Example: Revolve Group, Inc.

In Negreanu v. Revolve, filed in April 2025, the plaintiff alleges that Revolve:

• Inflated prices by using deceptive influencer promotions
• Instructed influencers to disguise sponsored posts
• Violated FTC standards by failing to disclose material connections clearly

The proposed class seeks over $50 million in damages, claiming customers were misled into paying premium prices because they believed the posts were authentic endorsements.

This is not an isolated incident. At least six companies have been hit with similar lawsuits in recent months.

We recommend reading this article from April 16th on The Fashion Law (Editor In Chief: Julie Zerbo) to learn more on this case.

🔍 What Does the FTC Actually Require?

According to the FTC’s Endorsement Guides:

• Influencers must clearly disclose if they received payment, free product, commissions, early access, or any material incentive
• Disclosures must be unambiguous and easy to spot
• Vague phrases like “Partnered with” or “Thanks [Brand]” do not qualify
• Even free products or affiliate links trigger disclosure requirements

And while the FTC doesn’t provide a private right of action, these Guides are now being used to anchor state-level consumer fraud claims.

🛡️ How SwayID Protects Brands and Influencers

At SwayID, we built our platform to solve exactly this problem:
Making influencer marketing legally defensible—before it becomes a lawsuit.

Here’s how SwayID helps you stay compliant:

✅ Immutable Compliance Trail: Every approval, correction, and content version is timestamped and logged, giving your legal team a digital paper trail.

✅ Creator Portal: Influencers are guided through clear disclosure rules, so they understand what’s required based on the value of what they receive (cash, product, etc.).

✅ Protect Both Sides: SwayID is built to protect both brands and creators ensuring clarity, accountability, and legal defensibility on both ends of the deal.

🧠 Final Thoughts: This Isn’t Optional Anymore

The days of hoping influencer posts “look organic enough” are over.

With lawsuits going viral and class definitions expanding to millions of customers, brands need to stop treating FTC compliance as a checkbox and start treating it like core legal infrastructure.

SwayID exists to simplify that shift.

📣 Ready to Embed Compliance Into Your Influencer Campaign Workflow?

Let us show you how SwayID can help your brand avoid regulatory risk and class action lawsuits.

👉 Book a Demo

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