This follows a procedure launched by the association Addictions France. Instagram (Meta group) was forced by French justice to remove content from influencers making a “unlawful advertising” to alcoholic beverages. In total, the judgment, of which Agence France-Presse was aware, concerns 37 publications, distributed by around twenty different influencers representing together more than 5 million subscribers.
The targeted content was no longer accessible on Tuesday, February 7, at the address (URL) indicated on the court decision. Meta let it be known for his part that he had ” applied “ the court’s decision, while emphasizing that it was not “not definitive” and was subject to appeal.
It’s about “of a historic victory against the sponsorship of alcohol online”welcomed Addictions France in a press release. “For 18 months”the association “contact influencers promoting alcohol brands” to obtain the withdrawal of their problematic content under the Evin law, which since 1991 has very strictly regulated alcoholic beverage advertisements.
“If some influencers are sensitive to the process, others do not respond or simply refuse to recognize the illegality of their publications”leading in this case Addictions France to directly enter the social network supporting the content, explained the association.
long battle
The judgment also condemns Meta to provide Addictions France with the real identities of the influencers concerned (surname and first name, date and place of birth, telephone numbers in particular). In particular, it says that these advertisements must be limited to informational content and that there can be no association with celebration, conviviality or humor.
The decisions obtained by Addictions France illustrate the long-term battle waged by public authorities and associations to make platforms responsible for the content they host.
Among the contentious content from which Addictions France obtained the withdrawal, photos posted by the influencer Renan Pacheco (more than 600,000 subscribers), the representative with a cocktail made with an alcohol of which he mentions the brand and showing the bottle. Or a photograph of the @framboise_fit account (more than 9,000 subscribers) showing “a woman in a jacuzzi with a beer (…) mentioning the brand in the description and extolling its merits”according to the description of the judgment.