Italy’s antitrust opens probe into BAT over covert advertising on social media

Italy’s Antitrust regulator said on Monday it had launched a probe into the Italian unit of British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) (BAT) over alleged covert advertising of its tobacco heating product Glo Hyper on social media.

The watchdog said in a statement three influencers, who have commercial agreements with BAT, invited their followers on Instagram to publish content linked to Glo Hyper, without specifying it was advertising.

It added that the finance police had carried out inspections in BAT offices on May 27