Influencers win: £472,000 claim dismissed as totally without merit
A meditation tech brand’s attempt to avoid paying social media influencers — and pursue them for nearly half a million pounds — has been comprehensively rejected by the court.
Background
Keye Talent Group Ltd (formerly Lola Management Ltd), a UK talent management agency representing social media personalities Lottie Tomlinson and Lou Teasdale, was sued by meditation tech company Zoul following a marketing agreement dated 1 August 2024.
Under that agreement, Ms Tomlinson and Ms Teasdale were engaged to produce a 60-second Instagram reel promoting Zoul’s mindfulness app. The influencers delivered the content: the reel was posted, reached hundreds of thousands of viewers, and generated an impressive advertising campaign by any measure. Despite this, Zoul refused to pay the agreed fees — and went further, counter-claiming for £472,000 on the basis that no subscribers had been generated.
The court’s decision
Judge Mulrooney dismissed Zoul’s claim in its entirety and found in favour of the influencers. The court held that the agreed content had been delivered and the base fee was unambiguously payable. Zoul’s contention — that fees were only due if 200,000 new subscribers were generated — was rejected as inherently implausible.
“It is clear that the defendants posted the relevant advertising footage on their Instagram page […] and generated hundreds of thousands of views. That was plainly an impressive advertising campaign. The fact that it didn’t generate any purchases is, in my judgement, neither here nor there. It is inherently improbable that these two social media individuals, who are plainly business people, would agree […] to generate content for a fee that was only payable if […] 200,000 new subscribers [were] created. Why on earth would they agree to that? And I find as a fact that they did not agree to that.”
— Judge Mulrooney, Willesden County Court, 2 April 2026
Result for the influencers
Judgment for Keye Talent Group Ltd. Fees, interest and costs awarded. Zoul’s £472,000 counter-claim dismissed as totally without merit.
Key takeaways for brands, agencies and creators
This decision provides welcome clarity for those operating in the influencer marketing space. Where agreed content has been delivered, a base fee is payable regardless of subsequent performance metrics. The court will not imply onerous conditions — such as subscriber targets — where the parties have not clearly agreed to them.
The case is also a timely reminder that in the fast-moving world of social media, contracts must be drafted with precision. Where fees are to be governed by performance metrics, those metrics should be clearly and specifically defined in the agreement. Ambiguity will be resolved against the party seeking to withhold payment.
James Sandham appeared for Keye Talent Group Ltd (the successful party).
To learn more about James’ practice, please click here.
