According to a survey by the Repression of Fraud, a majority of influencers, among the most followed in France, practice hidden advertising. Some even promote prohibited practices. Bercy wants to regulate their practices more strictly.
TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube… The most popular social networks are sounding boards as powerful, if not more so, than traditional media, television in the lead. A power that some tend to abuse, by evading the rules governing advertising for goods and services.
After years of virtual impunity, the influencersthese personalities, who have a very wide audience there, particularly among young people, are now in the crosshairs of public authorities. The General Directorate for Consumer Affairs, Competition and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) has been investigating the practices of around sixty of them since 2021. She has just made her conclusions and they are disturbing: 60% of surveys do not comply with regulationsto varying degrees, when they have to submit to it, in the same way as traditional players in the advertising sector.
Hidden advertising promoting prohibited practices
Main grievance: all these anomalous influencers do not respect the obligation to inform their audience of the commercial nature of their publications. Clearly, not to say explicitly that they are paid to recommend such a product or service. Some do not hesitate, in these disguised advertisements, to lie about the properties of the product sold, or recommend risky products and services, such as sports betting. Worse still, some influencers make the promotion of prohibited practicessuch as the embezzlement of money from personal training accounts (CPF), certain interventions aimed at aesthetics potentially dangerous to health or even dropshipping, which consists of a trader selling products that he does not have in stock.
Following these checks, the DGCCRF explains that it initiated sanction procedures against offenders, ranging from a simple warning to the transmission of an offense report to the Public Prosecutor. Deceptive commercial practices, in particular, are punishable by 2 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros.
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An ongoing public consultation
A sign that the public authorities have finally decided to take the problem seriously, Bruno Le Maire relayed the DGCCRF investigation on the social network Twitter. These practices will be sanctioned at the end of the proceedings, promised the Minister of Economy and Finance. No one is above the law. No one should feel untouchable. This situation shows that better supervision of this new sector of activity is necessary.
New measures to regulate the activity of influencers and their agencies are being developed. Upstream, the Minister is organising, until next January 31, a public consultation, accessible on the website dialogue-make.org.
Advice from the DGCCRF on influencer marketing
Faced with the abusive practices of many influencers, the DGCCRF calls on consumers to be vigilant: It is important to take the time to reflect and do not succumb to compulsive buyinggood compare the prices and the characteristics of the products between several sites before ordering and playing the competition. Finally Yes the identity and contact details of the seller (with contact address, and an email or telephone number) do not appear on the e-commerce site promoted by an influencer, it is best not to buy on this site.
People injured by a product or service promoted by an influencer can make a report on the SignalConso platform, which has a section dedicated to unfair commercial practices on social networks.