Members of a critical legislative committee in France’s Senate have unanimously moved to approve a new set of rules restricting any form of promotion of advertising of digital assets on the part of social media influencers.

In a statement released on Thursday, May 25th, lawmakers Arthur Delaporte and Stéphane Vojetta, said that this compromise among their peers will allow crypto firms to promote their products and services only if they are registered with the country’s Financial Markets Authority. 

The move actually comes off as a less harsh approach to regulating the promotion of digital assets in France and is actually the first law in the European Union that regulates social media personalities hired to promote a number of products and services, including highly regulated ones like online gambling.

To date, however, a final version of the bill finalized by the French legislature’s Joint Mixed Committee has yet to be made public.

Prior to the release of the Senate statement, members of the European Commission proposed new rules that will make regulated investment firms take responsibility for any produced content they choose to commission or for encouraging fintech influencers – or “finfluencers” – to promote their products or services on social media.

Should this proposal be passed into law, these would be implemented throughout the European Union, even in countries like France that have their own measures regarding the online promotion of digital assets.

A Point of Contention

Prior to Thursday’s announcement, the influencers’ bill had been hotly disputed in both chambers of the French legislature.

An initial draft produced by the National Assembly was meant to ban the use of influencers in crypto promotion by limiting such publicity to duly licensed digital asset firms. However, a number of crypto experts decried the draft as these could derail France’s hopes of becoming a major crypto hub within the region.

As a result, those in the Upper House opted to soft-pedal such restrictions by allowing social media influencers to promote companies that have registered with the relevant regulatory body. This covers a broader range of industries and is seen as a workable compromise by lawmakers.