The luxury holidays once featured prominently on Lola-Fleur Whittaker’s Instagram appear at odds with the British-French student’s hard-Left political views.
The 22-year-old has become one of the most recognisable figures in France’s protest movement, which has been driven by widespread anger over the rising cost of living and a shortage of teachers.
However, she appeared to remove much of her Instagram content after users focused on photographs of her holidays and jewellery. Critics argued that the images did not fit with her account of growing up with a single mother, a background she cites when explaining her radical political outlook.
In one Instagram video, Ms Whittaker said her mother was “overdrawn every month, like 30 per cent of French people” and bought bin bags from discount chain Action instead of Lidl because they were cheaper.
She has also claimed that her mother, who works as a teacher, sometimes eats cookies for lunch because she cannot afford to use the cafeteria.
Those remarks prompted online ridicule, with some users even setting up a crowdfunding campaign called “A meal for Lola-Fleur’s mother”.
Lola-Fleur Whittaker regularly uses social media to champion the movement, and recently called on young Britons to follow in the footsteps of their French neighbours
Ms Whittaker has become one of the most recognisable faces of France’s protest movement
“The mother eats cookies while the daughter travels,” one person wrote in a comment, while another branded her a “bourgeois leftist who receives 30k aid and lectures us on morals”.
Ms Whittaker later deleted photographs from trips to Sicily, Greece, Malaysia, Egypt and Oman. She insisted the decision was not made “out of shame”, but followed what she described as “sexist, vile comments about my appearance, about my body”.
Explaining her travel history, she said she had been involved in “a very beautiful relationship with an incredible family who very often invited me on vacation”.
She added that having friends “all over the world” had helped make many of her journeys substantially cheaper.
Ms Whittaker has also responded to criticism of her education, saying she left the University of Manchester, where she graduated in 2024, with “debts up to my neck”. She is now studying for a Master’s degree at Sciences Po in Paris and said a scholarship is the only reason she can afford to attend the prestigious institution.
She has become a prominent voice in support of the protests that have swept across France this month, with the unrest escalating into some of the country’s worst rioting in years.
Demonstrators have set fire to cars and rubbish bins, confronted police and looted shops during the unrest.
Thousands of people have been arrested, while both peaceful protesters and police officers have been subjected to violent attacks as the disorder continues to spread.
Tensions remained high after France’s interior minister warned on Thursday of a “very high risk of public disorder” and said about 70,000 police officers would be deployed for a fresh wave of demonstrations this weekend.
Laurent Nunez said authorities had also identified social media appeals for Halloween gatherings that evening, including calls for a “revolution”.
Ms Whittaker frequently uses social media to promote the movement and recently urged young people in Britain to follow the example of their French neighbours.
A prominent supporter of the hard-Left France Unbowed party, she has campaigned for an extra €10billion (£8billion) in annual education funding, an end to teacher shortages and university access for all.
Ms Whittaker appears on La Grande Confrontation, where she appeared to scoff mockingly during a heated debate
In response to criticism of her political views, Ms Whittaker has frequently highlighted that she was brought up by a single mother
She also participated in the blockade of sixth-form colleges and organised similar demonstrations outside her own institution.
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Speaking to The Times, Ms Whittaker argued that looters had been unfairly portrayed, claiming some of the goods taken from shops had been distributed to people in need.
‘I’m not saying it’s good what happened,’ she said. ‘It’s just there was also a huge thing of solidarity going on. They were going out and just giving food and drinks and clothes to people, to homeless people, for example. There’s another side to the story.’
Ms Whittaker has also urged young Britons to follow the movement happening in France.
‘I’m inviting them to join us all. This is an invite,’ she told the publication, while acknowledging she is not confident that British universities will erupt in protests, but believes that workers might.
Recently, the young activist sparked fierce backlash after appearing on French television, where she appeared to scoff at business owners whose livelihoods had been devastated by the riots.
‘Your shops, that’s all very well,’ she said mockingly during a heated debate on La Grande Confrontation about who was to blame for the violence.
Her remarks prompted an immediate rebuke from Jhemima Sheilha, a bakery chain owner whose businesses had been looted.
‘It’s my life, Lola,’ Ms Sheilha replied. ‘We’ve had to see our businesses smashed.
‘What justifies terrorising people’s lives?’
Ms Whittaker hit out at those who have pointed out her expensive education, saying she left Manchester with ‘debts up to my neck’
She is one of many young influencers who have taken to social media to preach the hard-Left cause
Ms Whittaker is one of many young influencers who have taken to social media to preach the hard-Left cause.
On Monday, Emmanuel Macron blamed social media for the weeks of protests and rioting in France.
The French President claimed that social media is ‘damaging our democracies’ after his government has struggled to contain the violence and looting across the country.
He said on a visit to Marseille that social media was especially used during unrest on October 17 ‘to bring young and not-so-young people to places where criminal acts, attacks and looting were taking place’.
Mr Macron also described social media as ‘tools for mobilising the worst impulses’ and warned that a new wave of protests this weekend could turn ‘risky’.
He acknowledged that authorities had ‘not anticipated at all’ the scale of the demonstrations a week earlier.
His comments came after rioters briefly stormed Marseille City Hall on October 17.
Mr Macron, alongside Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, met with students demanding better school conditions as the French government seeks to draw a line under weeks of violence and looting.
And on Thursday, representatives of youth organisations met Mr Nunez but emerged disappointed.
Manon Moret, secretary general of the student union Unef, said: ‘We went to this meeting to discuss our demands, but above all the last four weeks of mobilisation, which have been marked by unprecedented police violence.
‘This meeting was a dialogue of the deaf.’
Some of the attendees accused Mr Nunez of refusing to acknowledge violence committed against protesters.