Food Influencers: Be Prepared with Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance in Case You Get Sued.

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Food & nutrition influencers on social media/food bloggers should acknowledge the reality that the more popular they get, the more of an opening is created for potential legal liability and lawsuits.

Don’t think you could get sued because of some posts or videos that you publish on social media? Well, think again. Just look at the below real-life examples of lawsuits brought against food-related influencers to see how real this threat is:

Instagram influencer gets sued by diet creator

In 2020, the creator of a popular diet sued an Instagram influencer for allegedly destroying her business by making false claims that the diet causes physical harm.

The entrepreneur claimed her business was making over $1M per month in revenue until this social media influencer began publishing “illegal, abusive and harassing” posts about the diet. The diet creator is suing for defamation and wants more than $500K in damages. Note: When food/nutrition influencers on social media publish negative comments about another brand/company, they are opening themselves up to the possibility of legal action.

This is where having Errors and Omissions (E&O) Insurance/Social Media Influencer Liability Insurance in place would be prudent because the policy protects against alleged libel, slander, defamation of character or invasion of privacy. The E&O policy will provide defense costs if the insured social media influencer is sued and will pay the judgment costs if the influencer is found liable. Until a lawsuit happens, the policy provides peace of mind.

Food blogger gets sued by family restaurant

In 2014, a court ordered a food blogger to pay ~$3,380 USD for publishing an unfairly negative review of a restaurant. This influencer criticized not only the food but also the personnel, calling the boss a “diva”, which is likely what gave the restaurant’s legal team grounds to argue that the blogger had crossed the line into defamation.

The restaurant’s lawyers argued that the article was “more of an insult” than a critical review. Since the article was ranking high on Google search results, the restaurant argued that the review unfairly drove away potential business.

These are accusations of defamation (specifically, libel) and Social Media Influencer Liability Insurance protects against alleged libel, slander, defamation of character or invasion of privacy. In this case, the insurance would likely pay the judgment costs because the influencer was found liable.

Food blogger gets sued by restaurant chain

In 2011, the owner of a restaurant franchise sued a food blogger, claiming that the blogger damaged the reputation of the restaurant with a series of “offensive” claims made on his blog. The blogger claimed that the food he ate at the restaurant was undercooked. The restaurant alleged this review negatively impacted their revenue “by encouraging large numbers of customers not to try the restaurant.”

Again: these are accusations of defamation (specifically, libel) and Social Media Influencer Liability Insurance protects against alleged libel, slander, defamation of character or invasion of privacy.

Get Social Media Influencer Liability Insurance | Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance for Social Media Influencers | Food Influencer E&O Insurance | Food Influencer Insurance | Health and Nutrition Influencer Insurance | Dieting Influencer Insurance

Social Media Influencer Liability Insurance, also known as E&O Insurance, or Multimedia Risk Insurance covers legal liability and defense for social media influencers against lawsuits alleging:

• Unauthorized use of titles, formats, ideas, characters, plots
• Plagiarism
• Unfair competition
• Defamation of character/libel/slander
• Invasion of privacy
• Infringement of rights of publicity
• And more!