Is there a need for a law that regulates the activity of influencers? How to improve the fight against scams? These questions are among those that were asked at the Ministry of Economy facilities this Friday, during a round table initiated by Bercy.
They brought together a broad panorama of actors from the world of influence, including content creation agencies, representatives of social networks (Snapchat, TikTok, Meta), representative organizations from the world of communication, and representatives of the State such as the DGCCRF (repression of fraud ).
There was no minister there. The participants were able to speak on various topics, grouped into four themes: the rights and obligations of influencers, consumer protection, environmental governance and the protection of intellectual property. The influencer and popularizer Hugo Décrypte intervenes by videoconference. Mohamed Mansouri, director of the Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority (ARPP), present at the meeting, told BFMTV.com of “rich discussions.”
The director of the Point d’Orgue influencers agency, Carine Fernández, said she was “quite satisfied” at the end of these talks, which lasted two hours.
A legal framework considered sufficient
These positions, Point d’Orgue -which represents, for example, EnjoyPhoenix or Noholito- detailed them with six other influencer agencies in a joint document, consulted by BFMTV.com.
While the EELV deputy Aurélien Taché presented a bill in the National Assembly in November aimed at “regulating commercial and advertising practices linked to the market of influences on the Internet” and the majority deputy Stéphane Vojetta wants to “adapt the law to protect users of social networks”, Carine Fernández and several of her colleagues believe that the current legal framework is sufficient.
“The laws that govern online advertising, if they are respected, are enough to protect consumers,” explain the agencies Influence4You, Follow, Smile, Reech, Point d’Orgue, Bump and Sputnik in their joint document.
Nabilla, for example, was fined 20,000 euros in 2021 for deceptive commercial practices after promoting online commerce services on Snapchat in January 2018. The director of Point d’Orgue also points out that the profession of influencer, or content creator, is “so much broader” than the scams that have been publicized in recent months.
Lack of knowledge of the tools.
On the ARPP side, it is also estimated that “the current legal framework encompasses all the abuses that have been pointed out”, such as the promotion of financial services with promises of immediate profits, explains its director.
The latter points, for example, to Signal-conso, the DGCCRF’s online platform that allows you to directly report a “misleading ad” published by an influencer, or the fact that a content creator “does not indicate that they are paid with a brand”. “. “Signal-conso is not that well known, you have to get ahead of it,” Mohamed Mansouri tells BFMTV.com.
More meetings will be held
The ARPP also presented its “responsible influence certificate” on Friday. Delivered after an online training of about 3 hours, where the rules to respect when talking about gambling or health, for example, in an advertisement, and an MCQ, is used to popularize the rules of the profession. Some 280 influencers currently hold it, according to Mohamed Mansouri.
According to the latter, Bercy showed interest in this certificate and expressed his desire to “develop” it, without mentioning concrete measures at this stage. To start with, Mohamed Mansouri would like social networks to communicate these tools to creators who operate on their platforms.
These suggestions could lead to changes in the coming months. The participants in this round table should soon send their proposals on the issues addressed to the Ministry of Economy. Other work meetings will be held “starting in January,” according to Carine Fernández.
Source: BFM TV
