Instagram (Meta group) was forced by French justice to remove content from influencers making “illegal advertising” for alcoholic beverages, following a procedure launched by the association Addictions France.
In total, the judgment, of which AFP was aware, concerns 37 publications, broadcast by around twenty different influencers representing together more than 5 million subscribers.
The targeted content was no longer accessible on Tuesday at the address (URL) indicated on the court decision, AFP noted.
Meta said for his part that he had “implemented” the court’s decision, while stressing that it was “not final” and was subject to appeal.
This is “a historic victory against the sponsorship of alcohol online”, welcomed Addictions France in a press release.
“For 18 months”, the association “contacts influencers highlighting alcohol brands” to obtain the withdrawal of their problematic content under the Evin law, which since 1991 has very strictly regulated alcoholic beverage advertisements.
“If some influencers are sensitive to the approach, others do not respond or simply refuse to recognize the illegality of their publications,” explained the association.
The judgment also condemns Meta to provide Addictions France with the real identities of the influencers concerned (surname and first name, date and place of birth, telephone numbers in particular).
In particular, it says that these advertisements must be limited to informational content, and that there can be no association with celebration, conviviality or humor.
The decisions obtained by Addictions France illustrate the long-term battle waged by public authorities and associations to make platforms responsible for the content they host.
Among the contentious content from which Addictions France obtained the withdrawal, photos posted by the influencer Renan Pacheco (more than 600,000 subscribers), the representative with a cocktail made with an alcohol of which he mentions the brand, and showing the bottle.
Or a photograph of the @framboise_fit account (more than 9,000 subscribers) showing “a woman in a jacuzzi with a beer (…) mentioning the brand in the description and extolling the merits of these”, according to the description of the judgment .