French Influencer Law Changes

Introduction

In 2023 France did something no country had done before: it wrote influencers into law. Not guidelines, not a voluntary code, actual legislation with prison sentences attached. If you run campaigns that reach French audiences, this is not optional reading, because the penalties for getting it wrong run to six figures.

Here is what the law requires, what it bans, what it costs to breach, plus crucially how the 2024 reforms changed the picture. Practical and plain, though not a substitute for legal advice.

What the law is

The headline act is French Law No. 2023-451 of 9 June 2023, created to prevent scams and abusive practices by influencers on social media. It made France the first country in the world to legally define what an influencer is and to build a full regulatory framework around commercial influence, covering Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitch alike.

The core move was to place influencers squarely under the French Consumer Code. That means a sponsored post is treated as regulated advertising, with the same transparency duties as any other ad. The law was driven partly by hard evidence of a problem: the country's consumer-protection bureau, the DGCCRF, found that roughly six in ten influencers were not following existing rules.

The core requirements

The law's obligations fall into a few clear duties. These are the ones that affect day-to-day content.

Sources: Bird & Bird, Kolsquare, TIME, The Drum. Summary only, confirm exact wording with counsel.

Banned and restricted products

Beyond disclosure, the law restricts what creators can promote at all. Some categories are banned outright, others allowed only with warnings.

• Cosmetic surgery: banned. Influencers may not promote cosmetic surgery procedures.
• Certain financial products: banned or tightly restricted, including cryptocurrencies and other high-risk financial services.
• Counterfeit goods: banned. Promoting counterfeit products is prohibited.
• Gambling and betting: permitted only with a mandatory informational banner warning about the risks.

The thread running through the list is consumer protection, particularly shielding younger and more vulnerable audiences from high-risk or harmful promotions. If your product sits anywhere near these categories, get legal sign-off before any French campaign.

The penalties

Enforcement is not theoretical either. Since the law took effect there have been numerous sanctions for deceptive commercial practices. Platforms have also tightened their monitoring to match the legal standard.

What changed in 2024

The original 2023 law drew heavy criticism for being unclear and impractical. The European Commission also flagged that parts of it clashed with the EU Digital Services Act. So France amended it.

A government ordinance of 6 November 2024 modified the law in two important ways. First, the labelling requirements for commercial posts became more flexible, easing some of the strict formatting creators had complained about. Second, the systematic application of French law to all European creators was repealed, narrowing the cross-border reach to align with the DSA. The intent of the law stayed intact, transparency and consumer protection, yet the operation became more workable and more EU-consistent.

Who it applies to

This is where many brands get caught out. The law is not limited to French nationals.

It centres on the concept of the for-profit commercial influencer and on whether content targets users in France. A creator based abroad, in Canada say, who posts in French and regularly collaborates with French brands, can fall under French rules because their content reaches a French audience. The 2024 reform narrowed the automatic application to all EU creators, yet targeting French consumers still brings you into scope. The practical takeaway: if your campaign reaches France, assume French rules apply and disclose accordingly.

A compliance checklist

The practical steps to stay on the right side of the law, in order.

• Label every sponsored post clearly, in French, as a visible banner that stays up for the whole promotion.
• Disclose any filter or digital edit applied to a face or body.
• Screen the product against the banned and restricted list before you brief a creator.
• Write disclosure and liability duties into every influencer contract, for both sides.
• Treat affiliate links and discount codes as commercial content too, the relationship must be disclosed even when payment depends on clicks or sales.
• If your content reaches French audiences from abroad, apply the same standards rather than assuming you are exempt.

How this fits with Flinque

Compliance with this law is a legal and contractual job. Proper counsel is irreplaceable for it. But every compliant French campaign still starts with the same practical step: choosing creators you can trust to follow the rules and represent your brand cleanly. A creator with a fake audience or a careless approach to disclosure is a liability in a market this regulated.

With Flinque you can search 10M+ verified creators by niche and region to build a French-market shortlist, run a fake follower check, then benchmark engagement so you start from a base of credible, real creators. Pair that with a strong contract and legal review, then read our guide to French influencer agencies if you want a partner who handles compliance end to end.