France is to introduce new laws aimed at controlling the internet’s influencer jungle. Those who violate the new cyber laws risk two years in prison and up to 300,000 euros in fines, writes El País.
The laws regulate, among other things, the use of filters, advertising for plastic surgery and the exploitation of wild animals on social media.
The new laws will regulate influencers’ commercial commitments and protect consumers from fraud and misleading advertising. The laws have already been approved by both the National Assembly and the Senate – and in addition to banning advertising for cosmetic surgery, advertising for subscriptions to betting sites is also stopped.
It also forces, like Swedish legislation, influencers to report whether a post is a paid collaboration or not. However, the French legislation takes it a step further and will now force influencers to report if images have been retouched or if a face or body part has been treated with AI, via so-called filters.
Modernization of existing laws
In a letter from the legislature raised examples of what the new law hopes to stop. It mentions, among other things, “medicine” that claims to be able to cure cancer and cosmetic products that cause hair loss.
“The influencer world must not be a lawless zone”, they write.
The new letters are a modernization of the existing laws in place in the country, which when they were written were primarily intended to regulate advertising for alcohol and tobacco.
There is broad political consensus around the new laws – which are therefore expected to come into force already this summer.