BERLIN, April 29 — Social media influencer Cathy Hummels, the wife of Bayern Munich and ex-Germany footballer Mats Hummels, had a civil action case against her thrown out of court in Munich on Monday.
The 31-year-old socialite and yoga fan, who has 485,000 followers on Instagram, had faced charges of surreptitious advertising brought by Germany’s trade association VSW, but the judge dismissed the case.
The Berlin-based VSW had accused Cathy Hummels because she posted links to several brands of beauty products on her Instagram page “@Catherinyyy” without labelling the four posts as advertisements.
Cathy Hummels, who married the Bayern defender and 2014 World Cup winner in 2015, had insisted she received no payment from firms mentioned in her posts.
The court ruled that there was no proof that Hummels had received any compensation in exchange.
It also found that she is not required to label anything that she has not received payment for as advertising.
The Munich court’s decision is not final, however.
The VSW has won a similar case against a well-known German fitness blogger Pamela Reif in Karlsruhe and there has been no test case ruling in Germany’s top court. — AFP
