The profession of influencer in the process of being regulated?
The influencer marketing market, which involves brands paying influencers to promote their products, has exploded in recent years. Globally, it would represent 13 billion in 2021.
In France, the subject has seen a strong exposure in recent months through the media conflict between the influencer agent, Magali Berdah (Shauna Events company) and the rapper Booba who accuses him of misleading commercial practices.
Opportunely, a bill promoted by deputies of the NUPES arrived on the desk of the National Assembly last November, aiming to establish a legal framework for the activity of influencers on social networks, and to define a new liability regime, in order to fight against the spread of misleading and illicit commercial practices on the internet.
Article 1 of the proposal defines what an influencer is in relation to other activities such as modeling, performer or author.
For the sake of legal certainty, the proposal sets out the mission of the influencer agent and establishes the principle of a written mandate contract between the influencer and his agent.
The future law also requires a written contract between the influencer and the user of its services.
Article 2 intends to introduce the obligation for influencers "to explicitly mention the advertising purpose of any content disseminated online that would be laudatory towards a commercial, industrial, craft, liberal or agricultural entity, or that would be intended to promote the supply of goods or services".
These new obligations would be accompanied by criminal sanctions (6 months imprisonment, 75,000 euros fine).
The government, for its part, had embarked on a process to bring together industry stakeholders to examine whether the existing rules were sufficient to protect consumers. Seven agencies announced on this occasion a future "professional federation", which will aim to establish "a charter of values", "a guide to good practices" and an "ethics committee".
The bill will be considered no later than April. His fate is certainly linked to the political manoeuvres between the parliamentary majority and his opposition.
