Italy: Influencers get support from new union

Rome: It’s the first union for web influencers and content creators in Italy and it’s believed to be the only active such association in Europe.

Assoinfluencer aims to provide fiscal and legal protection to those who work on the web, and who are currently not recognised as fully-fledged workers.

The union also intends to offer other services such as psychological support and the management of their daily activities.

The president and founder of the union Jacopo Lerussi said working as an influencer is quite involved.

“You have to set up the communication program, reply to followers, be able to manage relationships with the brands, find an agency supporting you, and study the stats about all the posts and content you publish. The amount of work is huge and you must get to this level,” explained Lerussi.

“A creator may take part in an event and his image gets broadcast beyond the event program as an advertisement, but you need specific consent for that,” Lerussi added. “As long as this profession is not considered as such, there will always be these types of issues, which we are trying to deal with.”

Daniele Ciniglio is a young actor and also content creator who transformed a hobby into a job. Assoinfluencer began three years ago and is picking up pace. He is one of many web workers who decided to join the union.

“It is a fully-fledged job, which entails more hours than the standard office hours,” says Daniele. “Because on some days I work until late in the evening and some other days I bang my head on something with no success. It is a fully-fledged job and it should be protected as any other.”

“I cannot pay my contributions each year as a content creator,” Ciniglio said. “I am a worker who, according to the Italian State, works as…. what? Nobody knows.”

They are not just technicians or videomakers – they are web influencers and content creators and they believe they need to be recognized as such.