A senatorial report proposes recognizing and regulating online information creators, making their access to public aid conditional on compliance with ethical and professional rules.
The Senate presented this Thursday a report containing 53 recommendations to better regulate new information players on social networks, YouTube or Twitch. This work takes place in a context where digital platforms occupy a central place in the dissemination of news. According to the report, social media is now the number one source of information globally. Four out of ten French people find out about these services every day, and for the youngest, it is the main method of obtaining information.
Faced with this development, the senatorial report aims to allow “those who produce verified information to make a living from it”, and “stop feeding those who harm” the good information of citizens, indicates senator LR and co-rapporteur Agnès Evren. The document is based on the observation of a “massive quantity of disinformation and misinformation, without [les contenus de qualité] be distinguished or prioritized” on these platforms.
Recognition and financial support for information creators
The Senate calls for better supervision of influencers specializing in online information. These creators “reach audiences that the traditional press does not or no longer reach” and some produce journalistic work of indisputable quality, underlines PS senator and co-rapporteur Sylvie Robert. Hugo Travers, at the head of a company of 40 people including around fifteen journalists with a press card, is thus regularly presented as the leading media for young people with his media Hugo Décrypte (20 million subscribers).
The rapporteurs are calling for better recognition of their work by including information content creators alongside traditional media in the list of services of general interest (SIG) established by Arcom. The Senate also recommends creating specific financial support for these creators, in order to “recognize their contribution to the quality of information and eliminate unequal treatment depending on the media”, we can read in the report. Their hybrid status does not allow them to qualify for public aid. They are neither part of the written press, most of which work in video format, nor of the audiovisual sector, because they do not broadcast on terrestrial frequencies. Since January, they are no longer eligible for the CNC fund dedicated to creators on YouTube and Twitch.
Ethical supervision and professional obligations
But for the rapporteurs, this recognition must be accompanied by compensation. “More specific requirements, such as a minimum share of professional journalists [dans leurs rédactions]or effective respect for existing ethical charters”, lists Agnès Evren. In the same way as classic audiovisual, “newsinfluencers” could comply with obligations: “no incitement to hatred, protection of minors, and respect for human dignity”.
The Senate calls for creators of information content to be considered by Arcom as true publishers, and therefore subject to the 1986 audiovisual law. This would then allow the regulator, as for television channels, to intervene directly in the event of slippage via formal notices or a financial penalty. “When a creator massively broadcasts false information to an audience comparable to that of a television channel, Arcom must be able to intervene proportionally,” adds Sylvie Robert.
The senators also call for better supervision of the professionalization of the sector, in particular by the creation of a remuneration scale for journalists employed by these creators. And, within journalism schools, by “systematically integrating training modules in the production of content for platforms while respecting ethics”, we can read in the report.
Pluralism and electoral issues
It remains to be defined, among these influencers, which ones truly fulfill an information mission. If the rapporteurs do not claim to be able to do so, “what seemed important to us was to insist on ethical charters” to ensure that creators can “subscribe to these internal rules of the profession of journalists”, explains Senator LR Laurent Lafon.
Among them, respect for pluralism during elections. “There is no reason why the rules that apply to traditional media should not apply to content creators,” says Laurent Lafon. The senator indicated that Arcom must soon undertake a dialogue with influencers to remind them of the rules surrounding elections, such as the ban on relaying a candidate’s communication the day before the election.
“The next presidential and legislative elections could become moments of great information vulnerability for our country,” Laurent Lafon is alarmed by the risks of interference. The senator thus recalls the example of Romania during the 2024 presidential election, during which TikTok algorithms were allegedly used to favor a candidate.
