For Squeezie, Cyprien or Seb la Frite, there is no question of being placed at the same level as Maeva Ghennam, Julien Tanti, Marc Blata or other Dylan Thiry. A few hours later the publication of a column in the JDD, aimed at alerting the deputies before the vote of a law on the regulation of the sector of influence, several of the signatories dissociated themselves from the text. And for good reason, some web stars fear being assimilated to personalities accused of dubious practices – the famous “influencers” – who could fear seeing their activities better regulated by this law.
This is the case of Squeezie, the mega star of YouTube with 18 million subscribers, who signed the text before doing an about-face on Sunday evening: “I was presented with this platform as a means of defending ourselves in front of laws that are too extreme, 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 promoted casinos, cosmetic surgery , scams, etc.) “, he reacted in a text published on Twitter.
“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 malicious influencers. I am delighted that these scammers are finally being punished,” he added.
“The word influencer has become a dirty word”
And Lucas Hauchard, his real name, is not the only one to have distanced himself from this text, initiated by the Union of Influencers and Content Creators (Umicc). They are dozens of Internet personalities to have backtracked, always with the same argument: we must distinguish between content creators and influencers. “We were sold this thing as something that was going to say: be careful, make a distinction between content creators and influencers in Dubai”, for example regretted the youtubeur Seb la Frite, Monday morning, at the microphone of France Inter.
Because – at the risk of drawing a simplistic conclusion – influencers and content creators live up to their names: influencers have influence in a certain area and content creators produce content. “For content creators, there is a real notion of creativity, of creation, whether with video and editing on YouTube or audio for podcasts, for example”, explains Manon Mariani, journalist specializing in social networks at France Inter To 20 minutes. “As for influencers, they have an influence, a certain impact, in the field in which they are present. Take Léna Mahfouf, she has become a reference in the fashion world and when she launched her clothing brand, Hôtel Mahfouf, it was a hit. She has become a figure in her field,” she adds.
For Lydia Menez, head of the TikTok service at Loopsider, it’s also a question of terminology. “The word influencer has become a dirty word in recent years, so they created another one to differentiate themselves”, she deciphered with 20 minutes. “But it’s one and the same category. Those who call themselves content creators are influencers, but they just want to stand out. They believe that they bring added value, they do not put themselves in the same basket. But in the end, they are all influencers, they have the same economic model, namely partnerships and product promotions,” she adds.
Influencers VS “influencers”
However, Léna Mahfouf is not one of the influencers targeted by Seb la Frite in his remarks – especially since it is his girlfriend. No, the influencers the youtuber is talking about are indeed “influencers”. This term, created by Booba, designates an influencer who promotes counterfeit products, sometimes dangerous, or who scams his audience with fake financial tips, online bets or training scams. “In the majority of cases, these are personalities from reality TV, who make partnerships or advertise anything and everything, but above all risky products or practices: counterfeit or more serious clothing, such as cosmetic surgery, veneers, slimming capsules or even Maeva Ghennam’s famous vaginal lift”, analyzes Lydia Menez.
And if content creators also promote products or partnerships, these are “less problematic products”, recalls Manon Mariani. Because where Maeva Ghennam extols the merits of vaginal lifting, Kim Glow of buttock lipofilling and Marc Blata of copytrading, on the side of content creators, it’s a completely different register. In Squeezie’s content, there are videos sponsored by Amazon Prime, the network security company NordVPN or the telephone manufacturer Vivo, while Mc Fly & Carlito, for example, collaborate with the video game Bitlife, the Audible or Rhinoshield audiobook app, specializing in smartphone accessories. The match is therefore not so much content creators versus influencers, but influencers versus “influencers”.
From one category to another
If the negative image of the “influthief” sticks relentlessly to the skin of some, others have – brilliantly – succeeded in detaching themselves from it. In this little game, we can easily name Nabilla Vergara (8.3 million subscribers on Instagram) or Caroline Receveur (5.2 million). Former reality TV starlets, both popularized in The angels of reality TVthe two young women have become real fashion muses and recognized entrepreneurs.
“Nabilla’s example speaks volumes. She went from TV candidate to queen of influence, Kylie Jenner French version, ”explains Manon Mariani. In a few years, Nabilla founded her cosmetics brand, parade for Jean-Paul Gaultier, made the cover of Vogue Arabia and makes almost no sponsored posts. “She managed to capture the attention of other people. She has been dressed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, she is invited to fashion shows, she is validated by the fashion world. The switch was made, it went into the other category, ”adds the journalist from France Inter.
Same thing for Caroline Receveur. No more TV and partnerships at all costs, the young woman now collaborates with big names, such as L’Oréal, Kérastase, Armani or APM Monaco. She has also founded several companies, including Wander tea, her clothing brand Recc Pari and the cosmetics brand Osée. In June 2019, she made the cover of Forbes France magazine. “Both have passed into another dimension. They broke away from this image of reality TV, ”adds Lydia Menez.
A good turn, according to the journalist, who believes that “the golden age of influencers” is over. “People pay more attention to what they buy, they are fed up with being ripped off and the sector will be regulated, inevitably it works less well”, she concludes.