Text published without being reread, confusion and public flip-flops: a look back at the cacophony of the influencers’ forum published this weekend in reaction to a future law aimed at regulating their practices.
“I made the mistake of giving my consent for my name to appear in a very awkward column, which I did not even read before publication.” In a tweet on Sunday March 26, YouTuber Squeezie dissociated himself from a text he had signed, published a few hours earlier in the JDDlike several other signatories.
The name of the most followed videographer in France was affixed alongside those of 150 influencers at the bottom of a platform critical of the influence regulation law debated on March 28 in the National Assembly. Since then, several of them have reconsidered their adherence to this text, and have expressed their disagreement on several aspects.
• Why this forum?
This forum comes as a bill to “fight against the scams and excesses of influencers on social networks” will be debated Tuesday in the Assembly, carried by the deputies Stéphane Vojetta (Renaissance) and Arthur Delaporte (Socialist – Nupes ). It aims to further regulate the sector, following a series of controversies where influencers have been accused of promoting scams or dangerous products.
This law aims to standardize the requirements for promoting products online, by subjecting the 150,000 or so French influencers to the same rules as those for traditional advertising. In his current versionthe text prohibits, for example, the promotion of cosmetic surgery and regulates advertisements relating to financial products and services and partnerships on alcohol, by applying the rules provided for by the Evin law to influencers.
It recalls the obligation to clearly mention remunerated partnerships, and imposes the signing of a contract. Measures to protect minors under 16 are also provided for, as they must obtain prior approval to be employed by a company specializing in commercial influence.
• What does this forum contain?
“Do not break the virtuous model that we are building in the four corners of France with and for the French. Understand it, protect it, make it grow”.
This was the main message of this forum, which paradoxically indicated that it was in favor of better “supervision of the sector”.
“Scams, counterfeits, dubious commercial practices, some have made believe in recent months that they were representative of our sector when they only represent a minority. It is their abuses that we first wish to denounce”, continues the text.
Star YouTubers McFly and Carlito and Natoo, beauty videographers Enjoy Phoenix and Sananas, or even former Miss France Camille Cerf: the signatories nevertheless include influencers of all types.
• Why is it controversial?
A catch-all list that is confusing, and for good reason: since its publication, some web celebrities fear being likened to personalities accused of questionable practices, who might fear seeing their activities better regulated.
“I was presented with this platform as a way to defend ourselves against laws that are too extreme, which could have wrongly penalized honest content creators,” wrote Squeezie on Twitter. “In reality, this forum makes no distinction between content creators and influencers, and just seems to be trying to limit the damage on malicious influencers.”
On the merits, it is not the law being drafted that poses a problem for him.
“I have nothing to lose with this reform which is intended to regulate immoral product placements”, concludes Squeezie.
He joins Youtubeur Dr Nozman, whose signature also appears on the platform, who assures in a Tweet that after reading the bill, he finally judges that the planned measures are “mostly necessary to move in the right direction. and that they precisely target real problems and dangers”.
• Who is behind it?
At the initiative of the text, we find the first professional federation of the sector, launched in January, the Union of professions of influence and content creators (Umicc). “We regret that the forum signed by content creators in the JDD was badly perceived”, defended the organization in a reaction shared with the editorial staff of Tech&Co. Affirming to support this law, the Umicc argues that this text was simply intended “to provide education around the profession of creator “.
Several influencers have since explained that they gave their agreement in principle, without having the possibility of rereading the text, as indicated by the Youtuber Linca on his Twitter account. Some claim to have misread it, like the travel blogger Bruno Maltoror even not to have considered it.
“We all signed something with two or three WhatsApp exchanges, lamented YouTuber Seb La Frite at the microphone of France Inter this morning. “We all look a bit like idiots! Which is a bit the case because we are really stupid to have acted like that“.
