How to Regulate the Wild West of Influencers

They are the stars of the Internet. They make people laugh, test games, give DIY, fashion or beauty advice on YouTube, TikTok or Instagram. Some, like Léa Elui and her 11 million subscribers on Instagram or Squeezie (Lucas Hauchard) with 17.6 million subscribers on YouTube, are watched more than traditional television channels. Be mentioned by these influencers in a post (message shared with a community) or being the subject of a video can pay off big. This is why these personalities are courted by pes brands, which increasingly prefer them to traditional media advertising. From Dior (LVMH) to McDonald’s, via Coca-Cola or Yves Rocher, many companies have crossed the Rubicon by placing their products with these smartphone stars.

But the year 2022 was also rich in scandals and controversies around this new profession of alone-on-stage on the Internet with a commercial tendency. Indeed, it is difficult to know if we are dealing, on social media, with scammers or good advisers, and with original content or clandestine advertising. Deceptive commercial practices – when they are not organized gang scams – are more than ever in the crosshairs.

Among the many deviations, there is the dropshipping, this indirect sale of products from merchant platforms that often turn out to be of poor quality or even counterfeit. For example, when “lifestyle” youtuber Emma CakeCup promoted AirPods headphones to her 1.4 million fans for three times less than the normal price of an Apple model, when it was counterfeits sold for a few euros on the Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress. The controversies reached their climax with the media war, against a background of cyberbullying, between the multimillionaire rapper Booba and “the high priestess of influencers” Magali Berdah, the first accusing the second of being the agent of“influencers”.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers “Booba demonized me so much that I am alone”: the endless cyberbullying against Magali Berdah

In an attempt to set a framework for this digital Wild West, government and politicians are stepping up to the plate. The year 2023 promises to be that of the regulation of the sector. After having convened, on December 9, 2022 in Bercy, this microcosm (influence agencies, influencers, social networks, consumer associations, professional organizations), the Ministry of the Economy must launch a public consultation on January 9 with a view to taking measurements in March. While two bills were tabled – on November 15 and December 15, 2022 – in the National Assembly to regulate influencers and fight against illicit commercial practices. “Enough influencers! »warned the sixty signatory deputies, including those of La France insoumise.

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