Access public aid
This position worries press publishers. Because beyond the status, it is a question of financing that is at stake.
Today, influencers, like Hugo Décrypte, are not eligible for press aid from the Ministry of Culture. An “aberrant” situation when media with “less than 20,000 subscribers are fed public aid,” judges YouTuber Gaspard G.
The latter wants to prevent information influencers from being financed solely by private shareholders — brands, product placements, sponsorship, etc. —, thus risking their credibility. “But it is certain that the profession will not want to share the cake,” he regrets.
To obtain this aid, you have to go through the hoops of the Joint Commission for Publications and Press Agencies (CPPAP). It is she who awards the approvals, on the basis of criteria, which the channels of these news YouTubers do not check – or very rarely –.
In the eyes of Alexis Denous, of the General Information Press Alliance (Apig), a revision of the criteria would sound like “a considerable weakening of the status of journalists”.
Butter and butter’s money
More consensual in their proposals, the General States of Information (EGI) drew, at the start of the school year, the outlines of an “information influencer” label. Which would allow, on the basis of precise criteria – such as sourcing, or honesty in the processing of information – to identify and recommend reliable influencers. This voluntary labeling could be awarded by a regulator, such as Arcom or the Professional Advertising Regulation Authority (ARPP).
