For the past ten years, Lena Situations has been filming her August every year. That’s over now: she’s stopping her vlogs and has brought the curtain down on stage in front of 20,000 people at Bercy. Beyond the anecdote, it marks the end of a certain idea of influence – one where people opened the door to their daily lives for thousands of strangers. With purchasing power in decline, widespread mistrust and a need for meaning, simply inspiring dreams is no longer enough.
The rise of defiance
France is facing a series of crises: economic, social, political and environmental. Purchasing power is falling, and the future is a cause for concern. Against this backdrop, the daily lives of certain influencers are irritating, and at times shocking. The Halloween party that Jeremstar organised with great fanfare is a good example: some saw it as a provocation going beyond mere entertainment – wealthy people partying whilst the country is tightening its belt.
70 per cent of French people have a negative view of influencers, and only a third of consumers trust commercial recommendations. More strikingly, according to Contentsquare, 67 per cent of consumers trust a recommendation generated by AI more than one from a content creator. A machine inspires more trust than a human who is supposed to be ‘just like us’.
A market tightening the screws
This mistrust also stems from the sector’s transformation: influence is no longer a passion shared with a community; it is a business. According to Kolsquare, 89 per cent of brands plan to increase their investment by 2027, but they are becoming more demanding. As early as July 2025, NPR noted that campaigns which had previously involved more than twenty creators were now bringing together only a handful, and L’ADN quotes a talent director who says the required engagement threshold has risen from 2 per cent to 3 per cent. This tightening of conditions is weighing particularly heavily on mid-tier creators, who lack the clout of the giants and do not have an audience that truly belongs to them: irregular income, dependence on platforms, and little social protection.
To make a name for themselves, some are turning to ‘rage-bait’. American influencer Audrey Peters films herself having meals delivered, including a $25 coffee, and feeds her video with indignant comments. Scandal is no longer a side effect; it is the content. But the formula is quickly copied, accelerating the very saturation it seeks to escape.
From a distorting mirror to a mirror of society
We are moving away from the culture of entertainment – that of beauty, light-heartedness and escapism – and into that of reality. Yesterday, the influencer offered a showcase: we looked at it, daydreamed a little, then moved on. Today, the public expects a mirror of society and, above all, wonders how these images relate to them. Three things are changing: people want to identify with rather than simply admire; engagement has become an expectation (values, stances, including political ones); and the right to make mistakes is disappearing, with any misstep being scrutinised and penalised immediately. This is where the divide lies: influencers stuck in a fantasy world of abundance, facing a society that has moved on.
And what about virtual influencers?
If the public already trusts AI more than creators, can the virtual influencer take their place? On paper, they appeal to brands: they don’t put a foot wrong, they don’t age, and they don’t cause controversy. But AI is already recommending recipes or beauty routines. What gives a human their value is their life experience, their sense of humour, their perspective. An avatar risks widening the gap. Perhaps its place is in pure entertainment, embraced as such – provided it isn’t turned into a luxury setting disconnected from its audience. It remains to be seen whether there is still a place for an influencer whose sole aim is to entertain.
Influence beyond the dream
The end of Lena Situations’ vlogs is by no means a trivial matter. She has not ceased to be influential: it is a format that is fading away – that of simply staging everyday life. To survive, content creators will need to offer a reason to follow them that cannot be bought, and some have realised this through newsletters, podcasts or exclusive communities, where loyalty counts for more than volume. The others will discover that, in the midst of a crisis, nothing costs more than remaining detached from reality.
