The administration is gaining momentum on the issue of influencers and wants to make it known. This Thursday, the DGCCRF, a service of the Ministry of Economy in charge of the repression of fraud, published a new barrage of precautionary measures to stop deceptive commercial practices directed at four influencers.
Mélanie Orl, Féliccia, Amandine Pellissard and Fanny SNL are worried. The four instagrammers committed different crimes, ranging from not mentioning the advertising nature of a publication to the presentation of hyaluronic acid injections by a person who did not have the required qualification for this type of intervention.
Before that, the DGCCRF had issued precautionary measures against other influencers, such as Julien Bert, Simon Castaldi, Capucine Anav or Rym Renom. How are investigations that lead to this type of sanction carried out? The DGCCRF explains to BFMTV.com how it inspects influencer posts.
An alert for consumers, the press…
It all starts with a report. It may come from people going through the Signal-Conso platform, a free public service that allows consumers to report issues encountered with businesses that has a dedicated tab for influencers. These alerts can also come from the press, from the authorities or at the initiative of the DGCCRF investigators themselves.
Rémy Slove, spokesman for this administration, acknowledges that the accounts of the whistleblowers, those anonymous people who denounce the bad practices of influencers on their own social networks, “are part of the information consulted” as part of a control. Some, like Your Stars in Reality, painstakingly catalog questionable product placements for the general public.
Then the investigative work begins: “Once we say that the report must be investigated, the investigators go to social networks, they extract the correct information”, details Rémy Slove.
Specific rules on advertising
Specifically, agents look to see if a post looks like an ad without clearly indicating paid collaboration. For example, talking about a stay offered by a travel agency without explaining that it is a gift is not legal. They also check if the products sold are authorized in France (it is therefore prohibited to sell counterfeits).
Agents also ensure that product placement complies with the rules surrounding advertising for the product in question. For example, it is not allowed to highlight the fact that cosmetics “are not tested on animals” because these tests are prohibited by European regulations. Raising it implies, therefore, that other brands sold in France have these practices.
A right of reply for the influencer
One of the influencers anchored this Thursday, Fanny Snl, told YouTube how it went with this check. “A few weeks ago I received a letter at my house from the DGCCRF, she explains in her video. “It was actually a letter summoning me to a public hearing as part of a survey of my marketing activity.”
“So I went to this free hearing, which lasted about three hours and in which I was questioned by two DGCCRF agents about my activity related to social networks. They also reviewed and scanned all the documents related to my business, be it my invoices, my tax returns, etc.”, he continues.
He then received a “pre-request letter”, opening a contradictory period, which lasted ten days for this content creator. “There is a stage of exchange with the influencer because he has the right of reply. He will possibly justify his practices. So, we decide the follow-up that will be given to the control,” says Rémy Slove.
Warning, mandate, fine…
Several results are possible. If the administration detects a violation, it can send a warning to the influencer. You can also issue these famous injunctions to cease all deceptive business practices, which are posted by the DGCCRF but sometimes also by the influencer. Your subscribers then see a white message on a black background on their social networks that must remain anchored for several days (the duration is determined by the State services).
“And soon, we will be able to make precautionary measures under penalty”, emphasizes Rémy Slove, an even more “deterrent” device. This possibility was introduced by the Commercial Influence Act, passed by Parliament in June. It allows a daily fine to be imposed on people who do not respect the precautionary measure, for not posting it on their social networks or for continuing with their fraudulent practices, for example. This fine can amount to 3,000 euros per day of non-compliance with the precautionary measure.
“For the most serious cases, there is the transmission of a report to justice”, which must “decide the follow-up that will be given” to the case, explains the DGCCRF spokesman, who adds that he cannot give a figure on the number of files sent to justice this year – there were 16 in the first quarter of 2023.
Finally, the DGCCRF can resort to digital protection, which allows ordering a social network to display a warning on an influencer’s profile, removing it or even blocking it. A measure that has so far never been used by state services for influencers, according to Rémy Slove.
Insufficient sanctions?
What conclusions can be drawn from the public action against influencers who commit fraud? Some still consider it too soft. The group of victims of influencers AVI deplored this Thursday on X (ex-Twitter) that “despite the application of the influencer law, no fine has yet been issued.” The DGCCRF could not immediately confirm this information to us.
The spokesman for the DGCCRF, Rémy Slove, assures that the precautionary measures have “a particularly deterrent effect, the reactions show that there is an awareness and that it has an effect for consumers and influential people.” And in case of recidivism, “a fine falls and the file can go to the prison,” he emphasizes, without specifying if this has happened in recent months. Because “there are also all the cases that we do not talk about because we are not authorized,” he explains.
In addition, the DGCCRF highlights a “clear” improvement in the situation. Consumers are more informed, with “very strong growth in the number of reports.” “We do not put it in that the sector has less and less good practices, but in an awareness with the discussions around the law” on influencers.
Influencer Awareness
This awareness also concerns content creators, believes Rémy Slove, who also points out that a “significant part” of them “does not have problematic practices”. The main problem identified by the State services: the lack of indication that an announcement is. In the first quarter of 2023, the DGCCRF verified 50 influencers and found violations for 30 of them. If some accumulated several, the DGCCRF identified among those 30 paid companies whose advertising nature was not explicit.
Specifically, it can be a product placement without any mention of advertising, or with only the hashtag #ad (advertising in English, a term that not everyone understands). It could also be an accessibility issue. Fanny SNL explains in her video that she was criticized for putting the mention “paid commercial collaboration” quite low in the information bar of her videos, which required unrolling this bar, a manipulation that not all subscribers do.
The DGCCRF should be able to count on a new “squad” of fifteen agents, dedicated to influential people, announced by Bruno Le Maire this year in the autumn. An increase in staff is necessary, while the CFTC unit within the administration deplore the lack of personnel along with the increase in missions.
Source: BFM TV
