“Keep in mind that voting for a party that advocates hatred, discrimination and fear of others has never been a solution,” wrote Squeezie a week ago in an open letter to his followers published on Instagram. Its target, the RN, which could emerge victorious in the early legislative elections. Since then, we have lost count of the influencers who have followed suit in this exercise of taking a political position that we did not know about. But why are they coming out of the woods today?
We are not talking here about “activist content creators”, who are used to discussing these kinds of subjects. They, and other personalities from the world of entertainment and humor, quickly reacted to the “danger” that a possible “accession of the extreme right to power” would represent. As evidenced by the column published on the website of the New Obs from June 13. We are talking more about “brand” or “entertainment” influencers, more used to making their followers laugh or dream than talking to them about elections. Squeezie also admitted this: “I never wanted to talk to you about politics and get into the party game.”
Expressing yourself has “become an obligation”
But, while the vote for the far right continues to rise throughout the elections, why did these influencers wait until the RN was at the gates of Matignon to express themselves? “For me, Squeezie opened a door that allowed others to position themselves,” explains Pauline Ferrari, journalist specializing in social networks. “For a young and committed audience, it seemed unthinkable that they would not express themselves. It has become somewhat of an obligation,” she adds. “We must recognize that it is historic to see such a strong rise in the RN and I think that it justifies the public position of many influencers,” believes comedian Franjo.
If the Squeezie, Mister V or other Maeva Ghennam have broken the taboo of “we don’t talk about politics”, it remains to be seen their motivations. “We can wonder if they are looking for buzz or if there is real civic commitment,” says Sébastien Claeys, head of the master editorial consultancy at Paris Sorbonne. For him, big influencers have an “editorial logic” which prevents any spontaneity in what they post: “This comes in particular from the functioning of platforms which encourage people to have a clear-cut opinion, which gets people talking, which creates debate so that this is raised by the algorithms.” However, lack of spontaneity does not mean lack of sincerity. “The people who spoke have no specific interest in positioning themselves publicly,” notes Franjo.
Who is silent consents
In the injunction to express oneself, there is also that of doing so clearly. “If we don’t express ourselves, on the networks, there are no half measures, we end up endorsing something that we have never talked about,” explained a YouTuber interviewed by Tech & Co. This is a bit what happened to Tibo InShape after his post on “X” in which he declared: “If you expect a content creator to read the programs for you and encourage you to choose a ‘side,’ then you are mixing things up.” According to Sébastien Claeys, “not giving his opinion suggests that he may call for a vote for another candidate”. This same reproach was also made by Booba to Mbappé after his call not to vote for the extremes.
However, when positions are clear-cut and people don’t like it, there can be a backlash. This was very moderately the case for Squeezie, who lost 100,000 subscribers (out of 19 million) on YouTube the day he published his open letter. After their posts against the RN on Maeva Ghennam Or Sam Zirak, for their part, received bursts of contemptuous, even hateful, comments. On the other hand, his tweet simply calling for a vote gained Tibo InShape more than 11,000 followers on X.
“An advertising logic”
Between the pressure felt to have to express oneself and the need to do so voluntarily, there is perhaps something else. “We see a certain porosity between politics and advertising when influencers whose credo is entertainment or brand placement get involved in politics,” believes the Paris Sorbonne teacher. He thus takes the example of Jeremstar who claims to have been approached by political parties, “for advertising purposes”, analyzes the specialist who sees in this announcement a buzz. “This is where we must ask ourselves the question of collusion between influencers, their words on the networks and always the potential monetization of this word.”
The surprise, ultimately, comes from the fact that all the influencers who took a position did so for the Popular Front or against the RN. A surprising choice according to Sébastien Claeys, for whom “the times in which we live have gone beyond being left-wing so as not to make waves” when you are rich and well-known. Less definitive, Franjo prefers to refer to his sketch character who says that it is obviously “easier to display a left-wing opinion in relation to society rather than an extreme-right opinion”. To check on June 30 and July 7, all the same.