The City of Paris is organizing a vote to find out the opinion of Parisians regarding self-service scooters in the capital. The operators are campaigning by all possible means for a vote in their favour.
Opinions on self-service electric scooters are very divided. Some see them as an inexpensive and less restrictive means of transport than taxis or the metro, while others see them as objects that obstruct the public road, or even worse, real public dangers. Not knowing what decision to make about them, the City of Paris chose to seek the opinion of Parisians. A referendum will be organized on April 2, and its outcome is of crucial importance for operators Dott, Lime and Tier: self-service electric scooters could disappear from Paris.
Something is happening on TikTok: influencers are speaking out to encourage Parisians to go against the ban on electric scooters this April 2. Of course, you see where I’m coming from. pic.twitter.com/nO5UVOzmgJ
— vincent from the internet? (@vincentmnv) March 29, 2023
The question posed to the inhabitants of the capital could not be simpler: “For or against self-service scooters in Paris? ». We can imagine that the Dotts, Limes and other Tiers have every interest in people voting “For”. And from there to suspecting these companies of paying TikTok creators and other influencers to tip the vote in their favor, there is only one step that Vincent Manilève cheerfully took yesterday, in a Twitter post.
The mission of influencers paid by operators is to convince young people to vote
According to the journalist, at least eight influencers would have shot videos aimed at encouraging their followers to vote “For”. The same hashtags come up systematically, #2avril and #sauvetatrot, which suggests that it is indeed an organized influence campaign. Spokespersons for Dott and Lime did not deny being behind the initiative.
This in itself is not illegal; the operators also argue that all the videos published on the networks have the main objective of informing 18-35 year olds of the holding of this referendum. Whatever one thinks of the strategy used by these companies, if the number of views accumulated by their influencers is reflected in the ballot boxes, the “For” camp can count on at least 850,000 votes in his favour.