France sees high transparency in influencer partnerships across all creator sizes

France’s influencer marketing sector shows high transparency in 2025, with nano- and micro-influencers now as likely as larger creators to disclose sponsored content.

The Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP), France’s advertising self-regulator, has released the results of its annual Observatoire de l’Influence Responsable. It found that 84% of commercial influencer content published in the first half of 2025 carried at least some form of identification of partnerships.

Crucially, the data shows that smaller creators (under 10K followers) are now almost as transparent as macro and top influencers when labelling partnerships. In 2025, the gap between the two groups has narrowed to just one percentage point – 7% of small creators failed to label sponsored content, compared with 6% of large creators.

This marks a sharp improvement from 2023, when the gap stood at 15 points (23% of breaches among small creators versus 8% for large ones), and from 2024, when it was 10 points (15% versus 5%).

“This convergence illustrates the increasing competence of creators of all sizes and a widespread adoption of transparency rules, reinforced by audiences who are themselves more vigilant,” the ARPP said.

Monitoring influencer content at scale

Boosted by the integration of AI tools, the ARPP analysed more than 194,000 pieces of content across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube in the first half of 2025, a 222% increase in the number of content scrutinised compared to 2024. Of these, 9,810 contents were confirmed commercial collaborations.

“With the integration of AI, the Observatory of Responsible Influence has reached a decisive milestone: it allows us to reveal breaches that previously escaped detection using older methods,” said ARPP Deputy Director Mohamed Mansouri. 

“This technological advance reinforces the pioneering role of the French self-regulation model, developed in collaboration with all stakeholders in the profession and civil society.”

The ARPP noted that 2025 data cannot be directly compared with earlier years due to the methodological shift that integrated traditional keyword analysis (REGEX) with AI capable of scanning text, visuals, audio and context.

• Using REGEX alone, transparency levels in 2025 appeared to reach 97% – up from 95% in 2024.
  
  
• The AI methodology painted a more complex picture: 66% of commercial collaborations were found to be fully compliant, 11% partially compliant, and 23% not identified.

Combining the two methods delivered an overall result showing 84% of sponsored content contained at least a partial mention of the commercial intent. 

This dual system provides a more nuanced view of how influencer partnerships are disclosed, showing where compliance is clear and where gaps remain, the ARPP said.

Certified creators lead on compliance

Certification is a growing marker of professionalism in influencer marketing. The Responsible Influence Certificate, launched by the ARPP in 2021, has now been obtained by more than 2,200 creators.

According to the 2025 Observatory of Responsible Influence results:

• Certified creators commit three times fewer breaches of transparency rules than non-certified ones.
  
  
• 89% of content created by certified influencers fully compliant with transparency laws, compared with 83% across the overall sample.
  

Certification significantly reduces the risk of publishing unlabelled sponsored content, the ARPP said.
For brands, certification offers reassurance. Using Kolsquare, marketers can filter for creators who hold certification in countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands, strengthening compliance in campaign planning.

"Responsible influence is not just about compliance, it is about building long-term trust between brands, creators and audiences,” comments Kolsquare Founder & CEO Quentin Bordage. 

"The fact that smaller creators are now as transparent as the biggest names shows how far the industry has come. At Kolsquare, we believe responsible influence is the foundation of sustainable growth in influencer marketing, and we are proud to have been one of the pioneers promoting certification and best practice across Europe."

The ARPP has also rolled out complementary training modules such as the Responsible Social Selling Certificate, aimed at community managers and social media managers. These programmes ensure that those managing brand accounts are equally versed in legal and ethical guidelines for online advertising.