The Chiara Ferragni Pandoro scandal gives way to an influencer crackdown in Italy

Influencer Chiara Ferragni, a woman whose brand once stood for entrepreneurial glamour, digital savvy and highly curated aspiration, now finds herself at the centre of legal trouble over a festive cake. Chiara had teamed up with famous Italian confectioners Balocco in 2022 for a special Pink Christmas pandoro cake. The sales of which would support children’s bone cancer treatment at the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin.

What is Pandorogate? Inside the Chiara Ferragni Pandoro scandal

A €50,000 donation had indeed been made, but months prior, and not linked to unit sales. No matter how many cakes sold, the contribution did not increase. Meanwhile, Chiara’s companies reportedly earned seven-figure returns from the licensing agreement. The consumers believed they were funding care for children but instead, they were largely funding a brand collaboration.

In December 2023, Italy’s antitrust authority fined Chiara Ferragni and Balocco on the grounds of misleading commercial practice. The influencer has since apologised, calling it a communication misstep and not intentional deception, and pledged €1 million to the hospital. But public sentiment had already shifted.

The matter did not stop at administrative penalties because prosecutors in Milan pushed further, investigating the case as potential aggravated fraud. The court proceedings have since moved forward, with sentencing demands set and Chiara maintaining her defence. Her legal team argues that there was no intention to mislead, only a flawed alignment of marketing, philanthropy and public expectation.

Now Italy has introduced new regulatory guidelines for influencers operating at scale, colloquially dubbed the “Ferragni law”. The rules tighten disclosures around partnership-driven charity campaigns and set clearer expectations for transparency in influencer advertising.

The most important question now, is what happens when commerce, goodwill and enormous digital reach intersect without guardrails? Followers are no longer just an audience, they are consumers, donors, participants in a transaction they want to trust. And trust, in digital culture, is currency.

Pandoro-gate is still unfolding. Sentencing remains ahead, appeals are possible, and Ferragni’s public image, though bruised, is not beyond repair. But whatever the legal outcome, the case has marked a turning point. Influence is powerful. Influence used unclearly is costly. And influence, when tied to charity, carries responsibility weightier than a festive dessert ever should.

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