The Celsius Influencer Marketing Lawsuit Play-by-Play

Social media marketing, influencer marketing inclusive, has been a thriving field for businesses that know their way around. Cost relatively little to start, beautiful ROI, and unlike most marketing channels, less regulation.

But it's a known theme that business exposure doesn't fly well with governments.

SwayId has preached this gospel for a year now. Business and Influencers are starting to get the hang of it.

Here are 4 things I'll pick from the recent Celsius Class Action as a smart influencer or business owner.

🔍 It's No Longer Just the FTC

A few years ago businesses could be worried about FTC hitting them. This is usually a sniper shot that could rip a business down if not financially, for the reputation.

But like every sniper hit, they require time, precision, and pretty good calculations (thankfully, not calculus).

The FTC will rarely go off hitting 10 brands in the blink of an eye. But you know who could do that and be an AK47 for the speed, and maybe rapidity? Consumers.

In fact, the last few class actions I've written about have all been initiated by consumers.

"Consumers are the king" is probably speaking better to many businesses:).

Today's class action was initiated by a California Woman who had seen a few of her top influencers on instagram made good recommendations on the Celsius energy drink.

For the sake of human nature to seek social proof, she took that as the best review she could get and got herself one.

We definitely can't tell whether she got the energy boost she needed, but we know she did her research to discover the influencers were all sponsored and made no disclosures. 

It’s also important to mention that Celsius weren’t the only defendants in the allegation. Devon Windsor, Emily Tanner, and Erika Wheaton, the three influencers who sponsored Celsius without making disclosures, were also caught up. Perhaps a close call for other influencers?

⚖️ Class Actions and the Domino Effect

Arguably, I believe class actions are the worst kind of lawsuits.

Starts from a single person, opens room to the whole community. Introduces legal scrutiny, and watchdog groups on whatever brand you're building.

Affidavits are so easily gotten since it's a class action - of course.

Ever noticed how brands hit by one class action often find themselves facing more soon after? It's simple. It's the domino effect.

Celsius has gotten several class actions before this. Shein? A ton before the last influencer class action.  

This only gets worse, the bigger the brand.

📊The Common Theme

Here's what's really happening.

Every major influencer marketing lawsuit we've tracked follows the same playbook. 

A consumer buys a product based on what they thought was an authentic recommendation, discovers it was a paid partnership, checks for disclosures, the consumer feels deceived, says product prices were hiked due to the undisclosed sponsorship, lawyers smell blood in the water, and suddenly you've got a class action.

The pattern is so predictable it's almost formulaic.

The woman leading the lawsuit in Celsius case says she never would’ve bought Celsius if she knew the influencers were being paid. 

She’s also claiming the price tag is inflated purely because of how the brand is hyped on social media, with ads that don’t tell the full truth.

📜 Contracts Must Drive Compliance

The key step to avoiding influencer marketing class action is to ensure compliance.

SwayId has long preached this gospel.

According to the FTC, "Advertisers need to have reasonable programs in place to train and monitor members of their network" and "take appropriate action if [they] find questionable practices."

Many brands provide influencers with written guidelines, but lack the internal capacity to monitor compliance.

The truth is, monitoring and stepping in when things go wrong can be the difference between staying protected and facing a lawsuit.

In fact, hearsay claims Celsius had policies in place requiring influencers to disclose sponsorships but then failed to enforce them.

That doesn't matter now.

This is the reason why we do what we do at SwayID.

SWAYID Helps Brands Stay Compliant 🤖

SWAYId built the first AI-powered compliance platform that helps brands, agencies, and creators manage influencer marketing and UGC in alignment with legal guidelines.

This solves the biggest issue with influencer marketing — tracking FTC compliance.

Here's how it works:

1️⃣ Pre-screen influencer & UGC content for FTC compliance before it's published.

2️⃣ Trains creators with short, easy-to-follow disclosure and compliance modules.

3️⃣ Create audit trails with timestamped records and signature logs for legal protection.

This way, brands ensure compliance without even lifting a finger.

Disclaimer: This post was written by our Founder & CEO, Kaeya Majmundar. She’s not a trained lawyer but she personally fended off over $4M in lawsuit threats using the exact system described here. This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always consult a qualified attorney for legal counsel tailored to your situation.

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