Macron addresses social media actions during protests

French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the executive branch did not consider cutting access to social media during recent student demonstrations. He clarified that any actions taken were part of discussions led by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

Prime Minister requested telecoms to prepare for access cuts

According to the online media Blast, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had asked major telecom companies—Orange, SFR, Free, and Bouygues Telecom—two days before the demonstration to be prepared to cut access to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and X.

Macron describes actions as necessary for regulation

Macron described the actions as "a work carried out under the authority of the Prime Minister" and stated that it was "necessary in order to regulate the actions of certain individuals on the platforms." He did not provide further details about the specific measures taken.

Government used Pharos platform to report illegal content

The President also explained that the government "mobilized what is called the Pharos platform" to allow the reporting of illegal content. In total, "a bit more than 200 reports were made to the platforms."

Platforms removed content after October 17 demonstrations

Macron noted that during the October 17 demonstrations, marked by a security failure acknowledged by the executive, social media platforms had "rather poorly" removed "illegal content" such as "calls to looting" or "calls to violence," as requested by European legislation. However, he noted "good cooperation last Saturday in real time" because the platforms had "removed a large part" of the content reported by the authorities.