Dr. Nozman acknowledged that he had not been “vigilant and conscientious enough in becoming acquainted with this text”, while Cyprien or Gotaga affirmed that they had not given their consent for their name to appear among the signatories.
It is a forum that caused a lot of talk on Sunday. Bringing together 150 influencers, including stars like Squeezie or Cyprien and published in the Sunday newspapershe called on MPs not to break their “model” because of “excesses of a minority“, before the examination this week of a bill to regulate their activity. But a few hours after its publication, Squeezie and several other signatories disassociated themselves from it.
«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“, tweeted Squeezie, the biggest French Youtuber with almost 18 million subscribers, in a message already seen closer to 10 million times this Monday morning.
«I was presented with this forum as a way to defend ourselves against laws that are too extreme, which could have wrongly penalized honest content creators“while, among the signatories, “we find influencers at the very origin of the problem (people who have promoted casinos, cosmetic surgery, scams, etc.)“, reacts Squeezie, alias Lucas Hauchard, also followed by 9 million fans on Twitter.
«I have always been above reproach and transparent in my work with brands. I am not impacted by these laws, I have nothing to lose with this reform which is intended to regulate immoral product placements, mainly made by ill-intentioned influencers. I am delighted that these scammers are finally punished“, he concludes.
Read also“Everything can stop at any time”: the risky bet of young people who leave everything behind to become influencers
Dr Nozman, Cyprien, Gotaga react
Squeezie is not the only one to make his mea-culpa. Several other signatory content creators also said they regretted having signed this controversial forum. Dr. Nozman, popular science specialist on YouTube, admitted, in a message posted on Twitter, that he had not been enough “vigilant and conscientious in taking cognizance of this text».
« When I was told about it a few days ago, I was told that it would be hyper-restrictive for us creators, that excessive control would be imposed, etc… When I see the reality, and the things proposed , I think that most of them are necessary to move in the right direction, and that they precisely target real problems and dangers “said the Youtuber to more than 4 million subscribers.
Other signatories, such as Cyprien, Gotaga or Henry Tran, bluntly claimed not to have given their agreement for their name to appear under this platform. “I was simply asked for my agreement in principle to support a text in the event that legal sanctions penalize web scammers and content creators without distinction. This agreement in principle, I actually gave it but thinking that they would send me a more complete document (…), to read and sign“explained Henry Tran on Twitter.
Benjamin Brillaud, from the historical popularization channel Nota Bene – who did not sign the column – told him that he had been approached by an agency, which is part of UMICC, the brand new professional federation which brings together actors in the sector of influence, to affix his signature. “It was 7:30 p.m., time to eat, I cut it short quite quickly“, he said on Twitter.
The Union of Influencers and Content Creators (UMICC) confirmed on Twitter to be behind this platform, regretting that it was “misunderstood». «This text aimed, (…) to support the initiative to regulate the influence sector by the public authorities in order to protect the consumer and that the very positive balance of the current text is not distorted during the vote.“, he tried to reframe. Asked about the fact that some signatories claim never to have given the green light, the UMICC replied that it only listed “names for which we have received agreement to add them, there may have been a problem transmitting the factual information». «But the rostrum was “for” and only bringing complexity, this has been the position of UMICC since the beginning“, she repeats.
The tribune of the influencers in question evokes the plan presented Friday by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, which brings together a battery of measures to regulate a sector so far largely without constraints. In particular, he wants to submit the 150,000 French influencers, who often live from the promotion of products, “to the same rulesadvertising than traditional media.
The small world of Instagram, YouTube and TikTok stars is worried about being equated with those who are accused of misleading consumers. In January, against the backdrop of a controversy between rapper Booba and Magali Berdah, boss of one of the first influencer agencies, the repression of fraud (DGCCRF) published a damning investigation into practices in the sector: deception on products sold, promotion of risky sports betting or even injections “by beauticians and non-health professionals“. The cross-partisan bill to be considered in open session in the National Assembly this week also plans to ban the promotion of cosmetic surgery.
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