Last month the court  ruled to move forward in the case of a content creator suing another creator for copying her aesthetic. In April of this year Sydney Nicole Gifford (24)  sued fellow content creator Alyssa Sheil (21) over allegations of her stealing social media content. 

Gifford is suing for $150,000 to supplement her lost income in addition to “mental anguish” and is seeking to have all of Sheil’s content taken down. Her argument is that Alyssa Sheil has stolen her “neutral, beige and cream aesthetic” and that she has been promoting the same products, decorated her apartment the same way, is copying her physical appearance and has even copied photo angles. Gifford has submitted many pieces of evidence, which you can find attached to a document here. 

When interviewed by The Verge, Gifford said, “‘I think there aren’t enough clear boundaries in the influencer industry, and unfortunately, a lot of people don’t treat this as a business…which is why I’m having to file a lawsuit to protect my work and my brand.’”

As of right now there are very few laws in place to manage this growing field because it is still so new. According to Yahoo Finance, the social media content creation industry is predicted to grow into a $41 billion industry by 2030. This court case has already brought light to how behind the regulations are for social media influencers and it has the potential to lead to the creation of many new laws.