The Conflict-of-Laws Provision in the French Influencer Legislation

by Ennio Piovesani

Sure EU Member States have enacted particular guidelines governing the actions of content material creators and influencers. On this context, the French legislature handed Regulation No. 2023-451 on June 9, 2023, geared toward regulating influencer advertising and addressing potential misconduct by influencers on social media platforms (1). Article 8, I, of Regulation No. 2023-451 requires that contracts between influencers and (influencer advertising) brokers or advertisers, or their representatives, should be made in writing and embody a specified set of clauses; failure to conform leads to the contract being null.

One such clause mandates ‘[t]he submission of the contract to French legislation, notably to the Client Code, the Mental Property Code, and the current Regulation, when stated contract has as its object or impact the implementation of influencer advertising actions via digital means focusing on notably an viewers established on French territory’ (Article 8, I, 5°, Regulation No. 2023-451). Students have highlighted the ‘progressive’ nature of the mechanism set forth in Article 8, I, 5°, Regulation No. 2023-451 and its resemblance to the (extra established) idea of overriding necessary provisions (2).

(1) LOI n° 2023-451 du 9 juin 2023 visant à encadrer l’affect commerciale et à lutter contre les dérives des influenceurs sur les réseaux sociaux

(2) See Sandrine Clavel, Fabienne Jault-Seseke, Droit worldwide privé, Recueil Dalloz 2024, 987, accessed on-line at Dalloz.fr; see additionally Ermanno Calzolaio, L’attività pubblicitaria dell’influencer nel diritto francese (Loi n. 451 del 9 giugno 2023), Il Diritto dell’Informazione e dell’Informatica, 2023, no. 6, p. 909, accessed on-line at Dejure.it).