Squeezie, the biggest French Youtuber with almost 18 million subscribers, dissociated himself Sunday from a tribune of influencers of which he was a signatory and which denounced the "
drifts of a minority
", before the examination of a law who should oversee the sector.
"
I made the mistake of giving my consent to have my name appear in a very awkward op-ed that I didn't even read before posting,
" Squeezie tweeted, in a post that has already seen more than a million likes. times Sunday evening.
"
I was presented with this forum as a way to defend ourselves against overly extreme laws, which could have wrongly penalized honest content creators
" while, among the signatories, "
we find influencers at the very origin of the problem (people who have put forward the casino, cosmetic surgery, scams, etc.)
”, reacts Squeezie, also followed by 9 million fans on Twitter.
Read also“Everything can stop at any time”: the risky bet of young people who drop everything to become influencers
“
I have always been above reproach and transparent in my work with brands.
I am not impacted by these laws, I have nothing to lose with this reform which is intended to regulate immoral product placements, mainly made by ill-intentioned influencers.
I am delighted that these scammers are finally sanctioned
, ”he concludes.
Fight against “
minority drift
”
In this column published in
Le Journal du Dimanche
, 150 of the biggest French influencers and Youtubers asked the deputies “
not to break (their) model
” because of “the
drift of a minority
”.
Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, presented a battery of measures on Friday to regulate a sector so far largely unconstrained.
In particular, he wants to subject the 150,000 French influencers, who often live from the promotion of products,
to the "same rules
" of advertising as the traditional media.
Read alsoAn action plan to end the jungle of influencers
The small world of Instagram, YouTube and TikTok stars is worried about being equated with those who are accused of misleading consumers.
In January, against the backdrop of a controversy between rapper Booba and Magali Berdah, boss of one of the first influencer agencies, the repression of fraud (DGCCRF) published a damning investigation into practices in the sector: deception on products sold, promotion of risky sports bets or even injections "
by beauticians and non-health professionals
".
The cross-partisan bill to be considered in open session in the National Assembly this week also plans to ban the promotion of cosmetic surgery.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/UGT3A2CDINB3LN3NMTZ4RJJOTU.jpg)