Two months after the first approval of the text voted unanimously in the National Assembly, the law that aims to better regulate the market of influencers, returns to the chamber on May 31 for a final vote, after a round trip by the Senate.
This is what this final version of the text will change for stakeholders in the sector.
• How to define an influencer?
Article 1 of the text defines influencers as “individuals or legal entities that, in exchange for compensation, mobilize their notoriety with their audience to communicate to the public by electronic means content intended to promote, directly or indirectly, goods, services or any cause in which they participate. commercial influence by electronic means”.
Sur les réseaux sociaux, si le caractère publicitaire d’une publication n’est pas explicitly précisé par l’influenceur avec une mention “publicité” ou “collaboration commerciale”, il encourt désormais jusqu’à deux ans d’emprisonnement et 300,000 euros d’ ‘penalty fee.
The profession of “influencer agent” is also regulated. The written contract will be mandatory when the sums in question exceed a certain threshold.
• Ban on cosmetic surgery
It will be strictly prohibited to promote surgical procedures. This prohibition is part of from the explosion of practice among the young. And the future law to specify: “persons who exercise the activity of commercial influence by electronic means are prohibited from any promotion, direct or indirect, of the acts, processes, techniques and methods for aesthetic purposes mentioned in article L. 1151- 2 of the public health code, and the interventions mentioned in article L. 6322-1 of the same code”.
Therapeutic abstention, which is the act of inciting people to abandon treatment, is also prohibited.
• Alcohol, tobacco, Paris…
Influencers are also subject to the Evin law, which prohibits tobacco and alcohol advertising. Thus, the text prohibits the promotion of products that contain nicotine. By definition, any promotion of the puff, a small disposable electronic cigarette very popular among teenagers, will be prohibited.
The promotion of subscriptions to sports forecasts is also prohibited. The “No one under 18” statement will also be required if the game is promoted by influencers. A proposal from the Senate, which wanted to toughen the text.
• More staging with wild animals
An amendment by Senator Arnaud Bazin (Les Républicains) was adopted to prohibit staging with animals whose keeping as pets is prohibited in France. Except for certain promotions, for zoos for example.
In 2020, for example, reality show candidate Julien Tanti shocked netizens by posting a video of a monkey on a leash and a tiger in a cage. He was then in a zoo located in Dubai.
• What about influencers who operate from abroad?
Several French influencers live abroad, in Dubai, for example. To also reach these influencers, the text requires that those who practice from outside the EU, Switzerland or the European Economic Area, take out civil insurance in the EU, to compensate the victims. They will also have to name a legal representative in the EU.
• Framed cryptocurrency promotion
The framework for cryptocurrency influencers was relaxed when the text passed in the Senate on May 10, particularly with regards to paid cryptocurrency promotion. Initially, the text voted in the National Assembly in first reading authorized paid alliances for cryptocurrencies only with approved companies PSAN (Service Provider on Digital Assets).
Except no PSAN approval has been issued in France yet. This law would have resulted in a ban on this promotion. The reformed text, voted in the Senate and validated by the Mixed Mixed Commission, now requires that companies wishing to carry out this type of advertising register as PSAN with the Financial Markets Authority.
Source: BFM TV
