A wave of hateful comments swept over influencer Léna Situationsafter her appearance on the red carpet of the Cannes film festival this Monday. Dressed in a vintage Vivienne Westwood dress, the young woman was physically attacked by Internet users.
Léna Mahfouf, her real name, exposed some of these malicious remarks in her Instagram story. “I gained weight I am aware of it, my morphology has changed I am aware of it, but the Internet realized it before me and wishes to share it well”, she reacted. And to continue: “Since young people we have been projected an ideal body, an ideal style so much that as soon as I no longer fit into my 36 I receive “you eat well in the canteen” or “congratulations on the baby”.
Faced with this cyberbullying, the influencer with 4 million subscribers on Instagram received unexpected support: that of the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. “Total support for Léna Mahfouf” he declared in his Instagram story, sharing that of the influencer.
The influencer specifies in her text, no longer retouching her photos, on purpose: “For two years I have made the choice to no longer use a filter in order to mount an honest and unmodified image, something real. »
An approach welcomed by Bruno Le Maire. “The use of filters and retouching gives us a distorted image of reality and can have devastating effects on self-esteem. Accept ourselves as we are. Let’s be ourselves and proud of it, ”he wrote in his Instagram story.
The bill to regulate the practices of influencers, adopted at first reading by the National embly at the end of March and then by the Senate at the beginning of May, precisely plans to regulate the use of photo retouching, recalled the Minister. “To protect the mental health of the youngest, photos or videos modified in particular with the help of filters (to refine or thicken the silhouette or change the appearance of the face) must now contain the mention “Retouched images””, details Public Life website.
Léna Mahfouf had already expressed herself in a video on cyberbullying which she undergoes. “You’re afraid we’ll ring your mother’s doorbell, you’re afraid we’ll attack your loved ones, you’re afraid we’ll come and kill you in the street,” she said.