Meta finally decides to kick popular scam influencers off Instagram

After a long silence, the American group has finally decided to delete the accounts of famous influencers accused of fraud.

For several months, the controversy has swelled over possible scams carried out by star influencers on social networks, often from various reality TV programs.

Three influencers deprived of their millions of subscribers by Instagram

The social network Instagram has long been accused of letting these personalities do their thing, who flooded their stories with videos extolling the merits of counterfeit products, or offering often risky advice on investments in crypto-currencies or on the stock market, promising wealth. equivalent to theirs in just a few months.

For their fans, usually very young, the consequences could be terrible on arrival, with a very real loss of money, or the receipt of products of a quality well below what they had been promised.

The testimonies have multiplied lately and the pressure has obviously been too strong for Instagram, a subsidiary of the Meta group, which announced on Twitter, in response to a message from the Collectif d’Aide aux Victimes d’Influenceurs (Collectif AVI), having closed the accounts of several influencers accustomed to this kind of dubious practices.

Meta rages, while justice and politicians look into the excesses of influence

Meta does not specify which accounts have been deleted, but some research shows that influencer Marc Blata, who offered “copy-trading” advice via his stories (supposedly similar investments to those of experienced traders), saw his Instagram profile deleted. It is the same for his companion, Nadé Blata, as well as for Laurent Correia, a candidate for reality TV known for the program JLC Family, broadcast on the antennas of the TF1 group.

The AVI Collective earlier this week announced the filing of two collective complaints, bringing together the testimonies of 88 plaintiffs, for “fraud” and “breach of trust”.

Several deputies have taken up the subject at the same time and have tabled several bills aimed at regulating the practices of influencers, imposing on them, for example, the specific mention of a paid partnership in the description of their video and penalties of up to a prison sentence in case of violation.

At the same time, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, also seems to be taking these matters seriously. It has thus organized a public consultation which is being held until the end of January and a round table bringing together most of the agencies specializing in influence.

Source : 20 minutes