- The influencer was sentenced on Friday to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 150,000 euros for deceptive commercial practices.
- On her social networks, she promoted miracle products, supposedly free training and sports betting advice.
- The commercial practice of influencers is regulated by law, and must in particular be clearly announced in the videos concerned.
She promoted slimming tea, candies for rapid hair regrowth and even creams for larger buttocks: influencer Maeva Ghennam was sentenced on Friday October 10 in Paris to a one-year suspended prison sentence for deceptive commercial practices.
The influencer, who built her notoriety on the reality TV show “Les Marseillais”, was also fined 150,000 euros for videos spanning from January 2020 to November 2023, in which she promoted financial products or sports betting advice with the promise of “guaranteed winnings”
allegedly free training in the field of aesthetic care, methods of “American teeth whitening”
or even advertising clothing without indicating that she was paid to do so.
The court has thus pointed out that Maeva Ghennam never announced “his commercial intention”
in videos posted for his 2.5 million subscribers on Snapchat, and more than 3 million subscribers on Instagram. However, this practice could earn him up to 1,500 euros per video, sometimes reaching monthly income of 60,000 euros.
“Packed” in its product promotion
Now based in Dubai, the influencer was not present in court this Friday. Her lawyer, who left the hearing without entering a plea, indicated that she was prohibited from leaving the United Arab Emirates due to a dispute, the nature of which he did not specify.
During the legal proceedings, Maeva Ghennam had also refused a proposed settlement from the fraud repression (DGCCRF), with a fine of 120,000 euros, according to the court. But the influencer admitted to having sometimes “packed”
in its promotion of the products, and indicated that it had never invested in the financial products whose assured returns it praised.
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In June 2023, Parliament adopted a law to regulate the activity of influencers, many of whom engage in commercial promotion or product placement. The text thus requires them to have a legal representative based in the European Union. And promoting a product in an influencer’s content “must be explicitly indicated by the words ‘Advertising’ or the words ‘Commercial collaboration'”
recalls this same law.
Last July, the influencer Rym Renom, who lives in Bali (Indonesia), was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 25,000 euros for similar acts.