Backlash after Macron calls to 'cut off' social media
Published: 05:07 PM,Jul 05,2023 | EDITED : 09:07 PM,Jul 05,2023
PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron's government faced a backlash on Wednesday after the centrist leader called for powers to 'cut off' social media in case of widespread violence like riots over the past week.
'We have to think about the social networks, about the bans we'll have to put in place. When things get out of control, we might need to be able to regulate or cut them off,' Macron told a meeting of mayors according to media reports.
Macron and his ministers have singled out platforms like Snapchat, TikTok and encrypted messenger Telegram for their role in spreading images of the nights of violence following the June 27 police shooting of a 17-year-old teenager, Nahel M.
'When (social media) becomes a tool for organising or for attempting to kill, it's a real problem,' Macron said.
Opposition politicians from left and right had attacked the proposal.
Some voices were even raised within Macron's parliamentary camp, with MP Eric Bothorel writing that to cut off social networks would mean 'giving up on the idea that democracy is stronger than the tools turned against it. It would be a mistake.'
Digital Transition Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's office on Wednesday told France Inter that cutting off social networks was 'not on the table'.
Meanwhile, France's mainstream right-wing party was accused of 'crass racism' on Wednesday after claiming that immigrant-origin people who took part in riots over the past week had undergone 'a regression to their ethnic roots'.
Bruno Retailleau, who heads the Republicans party in the Senate, was responding to a question about the identities of the people who have burned cars and clashed with police during the country's worst riots since 2005.
Although many of them were black or of north African origin, sparking calls for tighter curbs on immigration, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told parliament on Tuesday that 90 per cent of the people arrested since last Tuesday were French citizens.
Darmanin, a right-winger in Macron's centrist cabinet, told parliament on Tuesday that 'we don't want hatred of the police, or hatred of foreigners'.
'In this terrible moment for our country, we need to remember that the republic is a balance: Yes, order and firmness. Yes, order that is just, but not order alone.' — AFP
'We have to think about the social networks, about the bans we'll have to put in place. When things get out of control, we might need to be able to regulate or cut them off,' Macron told a meeting of mayors according to media reports.
Macron and his ministers have singled out platforms like Snapchat, TikTok and encrypted messenger Telegram for their role in spreading images of the nights of violence following the June 27 police shooting of a 17-year-old teenager, Nahel M.
'When (social media) becomes a tool for organising or for attempting to kill, it's a real problem,' Macron said.
Opposition politicians from left and right had attacked the proposal.
Some voices were even raised within Macron's parliamentary camp, with MP Eric Bothorel writing that to cut off social networks would mean 'giving up on the idea that democracy is stronger than the tools turned against it. It would be a mistake.'
Digital Transition Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's office on Wednesday told France Inter that cutting off social networks was 'not on the table'.
Meanwhile, France's mainstream right-wing party was accused of 'crass racism' on Wednesday after claiming that immigrant-origin people who took part in riots over the past week had undergone 'a regression to their ethnic roots'.
Bruno Retailleau, who heads the Republicans party in the Senate, was responding to a question about the identities of the people who have burned cars and clashed with police during the country's worst riots since 2005.
Although many of them were black or of north African origin, sparking calls for tighter curbs on immigration, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told parliament on Tuesday that 90 per cent of the people arrested since last Tuesday were French citizens.
Darmanin, a right-winger in Macron's centrist cabinet, told parliament on Tuesday that 'we don't want hatred of the police, or hatred of foreigners'.
'In this terrible moment for our country, we need to remember that the republic is a balance: Yes, order and firmness. Yes, order that is just, but not order alone.' — AFP