Online content creation: the Competition Authority’s opinion highlights the power of platforms over creators
In its opinion of 18 February 2026, the Autorité de la concurrence (French Competition Authority) observes that, over the past fifteen years, online video content creation has become a major component of the French audiovisual industry, with more than 150,000 professional creators in 2024.
In view of the rapid growth and increasing economic significance of this activity, the Authority opened an inquiry on its own initiative on 13 May 2024.
Those heard included representatives of Instagram, OpenAI, TikTok, Twitch and YouTube, as well as the Union des métiers de l’influence et des créateurs de contenu (UMICC, the French trade body for influencers and content creators) and several high-profile creators (Dr Nozman, EnjoyPhoenix, Gaspard G, HugoDécrypte, Inoxtag, Maghla, McFly & Carlito, Squeezie and ZeratoR).
The power of platforms over content creators
The online video content creation market is now concentrated around three or four major platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and, to a lesser extent, Twitch.
The opinion notes that these platforms are not substitutable but complementary, as shown by the practice of multihoming, that is, creators’ simultaneous use of several platforms.
Taken together, these two findings show that platforms hold very significant market power over creators, who are therefore not entirely free to choose one platform over another.
According to the opinion, content creators depend essentially on the platforms to reach their audience and generate income, whereas an individual creator accounts for only a marginal share of a platform’s revenue. This creates a structural imbalance in bargaining power, confirmed by 80% of the creators surveyed, including high-profile creators who acknowledge the platforms’ dominance in their commercial relationships.
Against this background of imbalance, the platforms unilaterally set:
The rules for sharing advertising revenue: the Authority stresses that whether such schemes are offered at all is left to the platforms’ discretion. Instagram, for example, offers none, unlike YouTube, TikTok and Twitch, where access is subject to minimum audience or content-volume thresholds. These criteria therefore exclude many creators who nonetheless generate revenue for the platforms.
Accordingly, the Authority encourages platforms to increase transparency in the application of their revenue-sharing rules (Recommendation No. 3).
The conditions governing content visibility: according to the Authority’s opinion, recommendation algorithms and moderation measures, which are entirely controlled by the platforms, remain opaque to creators. The Authority points out that this opacity carries competitive risks, since an unfair use of algorithms could restrict free competition between the content on offer.
On this point, the Authority recommends:
- greater transparency about how algorithms work and how they are updated (Recommendation No. 4);
- transparency of moderation measures (Recommendation No. 5);
- the provision of contact persons able to explain any drop in visibility or any sanction (Recommendation No. 6);
- the prevention of any favouritism in the promotion of content (Recommendation No. 7).
Failing this, an unfair implementation of algorithms could amount to an infringement of competition law within the meaning of Article 102 TFEU and Article L. 420-2 of the French Commercial Code, in particular where certain content is unduly favoured.
(Future) challenges: generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)
The use of GenAI in video content creation is still limited but growing fast. It mainly takes two forms:
assistance with creation, for example for scriptwriting, thumbnail design, editing or the automatic generation of subtitles;
the end-to-end production of video content generated entirely by GenAI.
The Authority stresses that GenAI is likely to alter the competitive balance between content produced by human creators and AI-generated content. It therefore recommends that platforms and GenAI operators ensure that content produced by artificial intelligence is clearly identified (Recommendation No. 2).
The Authority’s opinion is based in particular on contributions received up to 15 September 2024. Since then, the use of GenAI has spread widely, moving well beyond the stage of a merely emerging innovation, and the technologies have become ever more sophisticated. The opinion therefore does not address the difficulties platforms currently face in keeping pace and implementing the detection systems recommended by the Authority.
Although the legal framework for the sector has been strengthened in recent years, notably by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the French “Influencer Act”, alongside general audiovisual law, the Authority’s opinion highlights a genuine imbalance to the detriment of content creators and to the benefit of the platforms.
The finding is unequivocal: the major platforms control almost entirely the rules on revenue and visibility, leaving creators at a clear disadvantage.
Sources
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