YouTube advertising: Is a notice at the start of the video enough?

The case: Advertising disclosed, but still not clear enough

A financial influencer presented a brokerage app, while another creator showed products in an unboxing video. Both used YouTube’s paid promotion disclosure feature. A brief notice appeared at the start and then disappeared. In one video, the notice did not reappear when rewinding to the beginning. The consumer organisation also challenged the failure to clearly identify the sponsor (paragraphs 5 to 18 and 42).

The Regional Court granted the injunction sought against the platform operator. The case concerned specific videos and their presentation. The decision of 11 March 2026 therefore neither condemns all influencers nor imposes a blanket ban on product reviews. The claimant reports an appeal before Bamberg Higher Regional Court under 3 U 28/26 e. As of our source review, we have not verified a later final outcome.

Why ten seconds were insufficient in this case

Article 26(2) DSA requires online platforms to provide a feature allowing users to disclose commercial content. Following such a declaration, other users must be able to identify its commercial nature clearly, unambiguously and in real time. For the advertising videos at issue, Bamberg Regional Court interpreted this as concurrent disclosure during the video (paragraphs 43 to 47 and 72).

The court objected to more than duration. The small grey notice was overshadowed by more prominent elements. The court also considered it unclear whether the notice referred to the creator’s content or inserted advertising breaks. General notices further down in the description did not resolve this problem (paragraphs 48 to 54). This does not establish a statutory rule under which eleven seconds would be sufficient instead of ten.

Distinguishing platform duties from creator duties

The DSA duty addressed in this judgment applies to the platform. Creators acting commercially are also subject to their own rules. Section 6(1), points 1 and 2, DDG requires commercial communications to be recognisable and the person commissioning them to be clearly identifiable. The court classified paid influencers with their own profiles as service providers and based sponsor identification on this provision, rather than Article 26(1) DSA (paragraphs 60 to 65).

Section 5a(4) UWG also addresses an undisclosed commercial purpose where that purpose is not already apparent from the circumstances and the missing disclosure may cause consumers or other market participants to take a transactional decision they would not otherwise have taken. For promotion of another business, the provision contains specific rules on consideration. Paid collaborations, a creator’s own offers and genuinely unpaid recommendations therefore cannot simply be treated as identical.

Freedom of expression remains part of the assessment

Article 5(1) of Germany’s Basic Law protects expression in words, writing and images, as well as freedom of information. Personal assessments and critical product reviews do not lose that protection merely because they appear online. Article 5(2) also provides for legal limits. Our assessment: A duty to disclose paid advertising addresses a different question from whether a particular opinion is permissible. The Bamberg case focused on transparency about financing. The full judgment contains no separate balancing analysis under Article 5 of the Basic Law and provides no basis for a general priority over disclosure duties.

What creators, agencies and brands should review

As a practical conclusion, collaborations should not be approved solely by ticking a box in the upload interface. What matters is the actual presentation to viewers. A neutrally presented product review involving a paid collaboration requires particular care so that advertising and editorial assessment remain distinguishable.

• Review the contract and brief for remuneration, free products, commissions and the specific commissioning party.
• Make the advertising notice and sponsor identifiable and check size, contrast and duration in the finished video.
• Test the mobile view, embedded player and playback starting at later points.
• Specify in the contract who handles disclosures, approval and necessary corrections.
• If challenged, preserve the video, description, sponsorship agreement and platform correspondence.