In Conversation with Mohamed Mansouri, ARPP

In my recent interview with Mohamed Mansouri, Deputy Director of the French advertising regulation authority, the ARPP, we explored some interesting legal questions around influencer marketing. Namely, influencer certifications, social media content monitoring, the AI Act and disclosure requirements.

THE ARPPs NEW STUDY ON INFLUENCER MARKETING INVESTMENTS IN FRANCE

Mohamed shared some striking insights from the ARPP's and France Pub’s newest study, which highlighted the rapid expansion of influence marketing in France.

Investment from the brand's perspective is around €500 million, €400 million in 2023 and €300 million in 2022, so it has really increased during these last three years.

These numbers show that french brand’s are increasingly interested in investing in influencer marketing campaigns. The creator industry is not “new” anymore and is now structuring itself with specialized intermediaries, agencies and platforms. This underscores the need for robust regulation to keep pace with this growth.

THE ARPP’s INFLUENCER CERTIFICATIONS PROGRAM

A major topic in our discussion was the influencer certification program established by ARPP. This initiative came out of the Responsible Influence Observatory launched back in 2019.

We had noticed that small influencers were less respecting the transparency rules, the disclosure rules, not because they didn't want to respect the rules, because they didn't know the rules.

Mohamed explained that the goal of the certification is to ensure influencers, regardless of their size, understand and adhere to essential advertising rules and ethical standards. With big names like L'Oreal France requiring these certifications from French creators. This seems to be a positive sign indicating that the industry is moving toward greater accountability and professionalism.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-REGULATION

I strongly think that these self-regulation rules are the best way to enhance the trust that is necessary for the business and transparency, because it's adapted to the reality of the practices.

Mohamed made a strong case for self-regulation and emphasized its adaptability, allowing the industry to evolve alongside technological changes and market demands, all while maintaining trust and safeguarding consumers. This approach seems to be efficient for paving the way for a sustainable advertising ecosystem. He also explained why, in his opinion, certifications are preferable to licenses, highlighting that certifications, being voluntary, offer flexibility and accessibility. This approach avoids the potential pitfalls of licensing, which could hinder creative expression and industry growth.

AI AND INFLUENCER MARKETING

We also discussed the ARPP's use of AI to monitor an impressive 400,000 pieces of content this year. Cooperation between countries seems to also be a very important piece of the puzzle for better monitoring on a more global level.

We have a committee at the European level called the Data Driven Self-Regulation Committee and we are sharing with our data scientists experiences, source code and so on. We hope that these good practices that we share together will help other countries to implement AI to do a better monitoring and then to switch on certifications.

This ties into the broader conversation around the AI Act, bringing new transparency obligations by 2026. According to Mohamed Mansouri, developing codes of conduct is crucial to address the obligations set out in the AI Act, in practice.

There is a provision in this text saying that if you are using or manipulating AI, you need to disclose it. But what if you're using, for example, software to produce content and this software is partially using AI to generate images or a script for your content, would you need to disclose it or not?

As emphasized in the interview, these codes can help demystify the legal provisions present in the AI Act, offering practical guidelines that are aligned with real-world practices, ultimately reinforcing consumer trust and enhancing the credibility of the advertising sector.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW

Learn how ARPP is monitoring 400,000 pieces of content this year using AI, and the importance of self-regulation here.

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