It is a French start-up, of medium size, but which has already successfully raised funds of 5 million euros in 2021 to develop its offer outside France. Getfluence, launched in 2018 in Toulouse, is a marketplace, an advertising market place: it serves as an intermediary between information sites and advertisers who wish to publish sponsored articles, that is to say promotional content. An intermediary, paid by commission on sales, which seeks to distinguish itself by offering an “all-in-one” solution that simplifies research for both advertisers and content publishers.
“Story Killers”, investigation into disinformation mercenaries
For several months, some twenty newsrooms, including that of the Worldinvestigated, within the Forbidden Stories consortium, on companies specializing in the manipulation of public opinion and the dissemination of false information. As part of this project called “Story Killers”, three journalists from the consortium were able to participate, posing as intermediaries for a potential French client, in several meetings with pharmacies selling tools of influence ” keys in hand “.
This investigation notably made it possible to reveal the existence of “Team Jorge”, a very discreet Israeli company which claims its interference in several dozen elections throughout the world. It offers its customers an arsenal of illegal services, from the hacking of e-mail boxes and private messaging from adversaries to the massive dissemination of influence campaigns thanks to a gigantic network of fake accounts on social networks.
Except that the platform has also been used massively, by at least one French online influence agency, to distribute forums and articles favorable to its customers, without the mention “sponsored article” appearing on this content. , as required by law since 2004.
Within the “Story Killers” project, coordinated by Forbidden Stories, The world and its partners were able to discuss with a source explaining that they had regularly used the services of Getfluence to publish sponsored content promoting its customers, States, and attacking their geopolitical rivals. The consortium of journalists was able to verify that none of these articles carried the mandatory mention “sponsored article”.
5,000 euros for an article on the home page
The French platform indeed allows its customers, by ticking a box “sponsored mention not obligatory”, to do business with media ready to publish articles without mentioning the fact that they are, in fact, advertisements. . The world and Forbidden Stories have found that several French media, mostly little-known websites but also a few high-traffic titles, offer this option. The world has been one of Getfluence’s commercial partners since 2020, but this “sponsored mention not mandatory” option is not activated.
It is, on the other hand, for the far-right weekly Current values, on the site of which the platform offers to publish an article that does not specify that it is an advertisement, with a highlight on the home page. Cost displayed for the advertiser: 5,646 euros. Asked, the commercial management of Current values ensures that it is an error, and claims to have no memory of a contract with Getfluence.
When asked, the founder and CEO of Getfluence, Marc de Zordo, explains that “the option “sponsored mention not obligatory” is a functional criterion”only present to signal if the media “clearly imposes a mention “sponsored article”” or if the nature of this indication needs to be discussed with the client. “The fact of indicating “not obligatory” does not mean that the mention will not be displayed, it is negotiated within the framework of the validation of a campaign by each media”supports Mr. de Zordo, who also points out that, if this mention is compulsory in France, this is not the case in other countries.
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