“For several months, I have been overwhelmed”, exclaimed the son of Benjamin Castaldi, this Friday June 2, 2023, on the set of BFMTV. Like other influencers, like Capucine Anav or Illan Castronovo, he was pinned earlier in the week by the Fraud Repression (DGCCRF) and had to post on his Instagram account messages imposed by this service of alertness. In question of course, their commercial practices… little or not clearly indicated. “It made me weird but I was not against it. Like this injunction is only because I forgot to mention the hashtag #sponsored, it’s not a drama compared to other people who have made real scams, real thefts” tried to justify himself Simon Castaldi who has more than 340,000 subscribers on Instagram.
Fraudulent practices: “For me, I am not an influencer”, defends Simon Castaldi pic.twitter.com/g2xwlTFpk0
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) June 2, 2023
“I have never sold pills that prevent dying”
“It’s not a scam, I didn’t steal from anyone” he made a point of stressing also explaining that he had not worked with his agency for 6 months (the agency of Magali Berdah) and that “The partnerships I made were for perfumes, sweets, things that are not going to ruin people.” And that according to him, he was not “not influencer”. “I do so little product placement, compared to others who make hundreds a month…” And to add: “I have never sold pills that prevent dying. I have never made an investment for cryptocurrencies”, explains the 23-year-old man. “I could have made investments that would have brought me a lot of money. I didn’t make them because I knew it was illegal.
⚠️ The DDPP94 enjoins Mr. Simon CASTALDI for not having revealed the commercial intention of several of his video publications on social networks when they were paid partnerships https://t.co/ntY9rbf2Arpic.twitter.com/qEzjEmphEK
— DGCCRF (@dgccrf) June 2, 2023
In a story posted on his account, Simon Castaldi admitted to having been “perhaps a little naive”, but had assured to be “really very happy that things are moving and that the State becomes aware of the excesses of social networks”. He also gave his opinion on the campaign against “influencers” led by the rapper Booba, to whom he agrees on the merits while nevertheless regretting his methods: “Booba is right because there are things that are serious overall, with real thefts, real influencers. For me, I’m not from that slice.” , he finally declared.
VF