PARIS. France squares off against influencers. Despite the current political rifts over Emmanuel Macron’s disputed pension reform, deputies across the Alps today voted absolutely unanimously for a bill that aims to regulate the controversial business practices of so-called influencers active on social media and put an end to the « law of the jungle”.
At the end of a session at the National Assembly in Paris, the 49 deputies present in the chamber today voted together in a bipartisan spirit in favor of a squeeze. Non-explicit paid partnerships with brands or fashion labels, the tax avoidance that often accompanies it, scams… a set of practices that will be cracked down. The bill intends to regulate once and for all the sector, attributing a clear legal framework for the so-called “internet celebrities” and related.
The draft law approved today in first reading will ban some practices that are now widespread on the web despite the serious risks they entail. Starting with cosmetic surgery even among young and very young people, the promotion of which by influencers, when the law is approved, could lead to up to six months in prison and a 300,000 euro fine.
There is also a squeeze on the promotion of risky financial investments, especially in the digital sector or cryptocurrencies and gambling. But France also intends to better frame and define a new profession born with social media, the so-called “influencer agent”, in charge of relating the latter to commercial brands or other.
The draft law also aims at a better classification of those who work from abroad, such as in Dubai. Anyone who creates content outside the borders of the European Union, Switzerland or the European Economic Area will have to take out civil insurance in the EU to compensate potential victims of their work on the web. After the go-ahead from the National Assembly, the text passes to the approval of the Senate.
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