'Images virtuelles', 'Images retouchées' and retouched models
Article 5 of Law no. 2023-451 of 9 June 2023 on commercial influence, as rewritten by an ordinance in November 2024, requires influencer content to carry 'Images virtuelles' on images produced by AI to represent a face or a silhouette, and 'Images retouchées' on images edited to slim or thicken a silhouette or change a face. The labels must be clear and legible, an equivalent label suited to the format is allowed, and breaches carry up to a year in prison and a EUR 4,500 fine. Separately, since 1 October 2017, commercial photographs of models whose silhouette was altered must say 'photographie retouchée', with fines of up to EUR 37,500 or 30 per cent of the ad spend. In August 2026 the ARPP added a practical guide to labelling AI content in ads.
Deepfakes and the right to one's image
The SREN law of 21 May 2024 amended article 226-8 of the Penal Code. Publishing content generated by algorithmic processing that reproduces a person's image or words without their consent is an offence unless it is obvious, or expressly stated, that the content is AI-made. The penalty is up to a year in prison and a EUR 15,000 fine, rising to two years and EUR 45,000 when the content is published online, and sexual deepfakes are a separate, heavier offence. Civil law adds the droit à l'image, which the courts derive from the right to private life in article 9 of the Civil Code: commercial use of a recognisable person needs their consent. Recognisable voices get similar protection.
French, in French
The Loi Toubon (Law no. 94-665 of 4 August 1994) requires French in advertising, whether written, spoken or audiovisual. A foreign slogan or phrase may appear only with a French translation that is as legible, audible or intelligible as the original, and the consumer authority, the DGCCRF, checks. The rule covers voice-overs, supers and words inside a generated image, such as a sign or a T-shirt slogan. Registered trade marks are exempt; taglines are not. French typography has its own conventions, including a non-breaking space before colons, semicolons, question marks and exclamation marks and « guillemets » for quotations, and generated copy routinely gets them wrong. The choice between vous and tu is part of the brand voice.
The Loi Évin, the ARPP and TV clearance
The Loi Évin (Law no. 91-32 of 10 January 1991) limits alcohol advertising to objective information: origin, composition, strength, production method, terroir and the like, with the mandatory health message and no alcohol ads on TV or in cinemas. A generated scene of friends toasting on a terrace will not pass. The ARPP, the industry's self-regulator, must give an opinion on every TV and on-demand ad before it airs, and its recommendations cover subjects from sustainability to the portrayal of people. The studio's brand hub holds approved claims and banned words and applies them at generation, which suits a market where the permitted vocabulary for some categories is set by law.
Updated 25 September 2026 · General information, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current text with your legal team before relying on it.