View of a Sephora beauty supply store on May 30, 2025 in Sherman Oaks, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Italian regulators seek to crack down on teenage skincare obsession, investigate LVMHCosmetics brands owned by Sephora and Benefit have launched an “insidious” marketing campaign aimed at children.
THE Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) announced on Friday that it had opened investigations into the two cosmetic brands, centered on “unfair commercial practices”, during which children and young people, even those under 10 years old, were encouraged to buy serums, masks and anti-aging creams.
The regulator said the marketing fueled behavior known as “cosmeticorexia”, which refers to an unhealthy fixation on skincare among minors.
He pointed out that Sephora and Benefit failed to properly label their products or sometimes omitted important precautions on products not intended for use by minors, both in-store and online on social media, which could seriously harm their health.
Additionally, the AGCM said popular cosmetics brands employed an “insidious marketing strategy” that involved young micro-influencers luring other young people to buy their products.
Officials from the AGCM and the Italian financial police carried out inspections on Thursday at the premises of Sephora Italia, LVMH Profumi e Cosmetici Italia and LVMH Italia.
LVMH said Sephora, Benefit and LVMH P&C Italy had been informed of the investigation.
“As the investigation is ongoing, Sephora, Benefit and LVMH P&C Italy cannot share further comments at this stage, they express their willingness to fully cooperate with the authorities,” LVMH said in a statement to CNBC. “All companies reaffirm their strict compliance with the Italian regulations in force.”
Sephora has nearly 23 million followers on Instagram and more than 2 million followers on TikTok, with the beauty brand at the center of tween beauty trends.
THE The “Sephora kids” social media trend has gained ground in recent years, with viral videos on TikTok and Instagram showing stores flooded with teenage girls filling their shopping carts with brightly colored and fun skincare products.
In some videos, young girls show their skin care routines with products containing anti-aging ingredients like retinol.
A CBS News Analysis of 240 skincare posts from teen influencers on TikTok revealed that many videos had not been properly labeled as promotional content, with only 15 videos, or just 6% of posts, doing so. This means that many content creators may unwittingly advertise their products to unsuspecting children.
Embreigh Courtlyn, a teenage skincare influencer, told CBS that some brands would ask her not to label videos with “#ad,” which might turn off viewers, but instead to call them partners, which would make the content perform better.
A peer-reviewed study published by Northwestern University in June Last year, we looked at 100 popular skincare videos posted by influencers ages 7 to 18. It was found that only a quarter of videos included sunscreen, while the 25 most viewed videos contained an average of 11 and a maximum of 21 potentially irritating active ingredients.
Social media bansThe Italian investigation intervenes as a ban on social media for teenagers and children is gaining momentum with governments around the world. Australia imposed a ban on some of the most popular apps, including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat, for anyone under 16 in December. Several European countries are considering similar proposals, including the United Kingdom, France and Spain.
Metathe parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, faced two crushing defeats this week in court cases centered on the harms of social media. Meta was convicted Tuesday by a New Mexico jury of nearly 400 million dollars in damage after concluding that it had failed to protect children on its platforms from predators.
A separate trial in Los Angeles found Meta and Google YouTube was negligent on Wednesday and said the companies failed to warn users of the dangers associated with using those platforms, in a case brought by a plaintiff who said addictive use of Instagram and YouTube led to the development of body dysmorphia. Meta and Google face compensatory damages of $3 million in this case.