2023-06-10 08:55:53
During the debates in Parliament, the deputies who supported this project wanted to put an end to what they had described as the “law of the jungle” in the small world of influencers. The text, which prohibits the promotion of cosmetic surgery, therapeutic excesses, and empowers influencers who promote counterfeits, has been promulgated.
This law, adopted unanimously on June 1, which has just been published in the official journal, aims to regulate this sector. This law creates new prohibitions and obligations for influencers and recalls those that are sometimes circumvented. From now on, influencers are considered to be “natural or legal persons who, for a fee, mobilize their notoriety with their audience” to promote goods and services online.
No promotion of cosmetic surgery
This text prohibits the promotion of certain practices such as cosmetic surgery, therapeutic abstention and prohibits or strongly regulates the promotion of several medical devices. It also recalls the submission to the Evin law by prohibiting the promotion of products containing nicotine.
In another register, this law also attacks sports betting and games of chance. No more question of promoting subscriptions to sports predictions or praising games of chance and money. Unless this occurs on platforms that technically allow minors to access the video. In the event of non-compliance, the penalties provided for will go up to two years in prison and a fine of 300,000 euros.
Finally, another chapter is devoted to animals. It will be forbidden to stage animals whose detention by the Washington Convention is prohibited.
In addition to these prohibitions, several rules of “good practice” have been enacted. When promotional images such as in the case of cosmetics are uploaded, they will have to report if they have been retouched via filters to make them more attractive but misleading.
Supervised influencer agents
“Influencer agents” will also be supervised. A written contract will be mandatory when the sums involved exceed a certain threshold. The text also provides for accountability measures for the platforms. While many successful influencers operate from abroad, such as in Dubai, the text wants to require those who operate from outside the European Union, Switzerland or the European Economic Area to take out civil insurance in The union. The stated goal is to create a jackpot to compensate potential victims. They will also have to appoint a legal representative in the EU.
At the end of March, the Union of Influencers and Content Creators (Umicc), which recently represents agencies in the sector, had welcomed “commendable and essential proposals”. But she had alerted parliamentarians against the risk of “discriminating against or over-regulating” certain players. During a meeting, Bruno Le Maire had just indicated that he wanted to “protect those who play the game”. According to him, if the rules are clear, this sector is capable of creating “a lot of wealth for the country, also makes it possible to recruit, to create jobs”. And that many content creators have been following the rules for several years.
It is the DGCCRF which will keep a police eye on this sector by carrying out checks via its new “commercial influence” brigade.
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