Should access to social networks be temporarily cut off in the event of urban violence? The proposal, put forward by Emmanuel Macron after the riots which affected many municipalities, caused a lot of talk. The government also quickly clarified the words of the head of state, saying that he was considering “suspending features” instead. After the death of Nahel, 17, killed by a policeman in Nanterre after refusing to comply, social networks played an amplifying role.
Dozens of videos of scenes of violence were accessible live and in a few clicks, and geolocation systems “could allow young people to find themselves in such a place, showing scenes, how to set fires etc… is calls for the organization of hatred in the public space”, had denounced in particular Olivier Véran.
“Social networks can’t be the jungle”
Invited this Friday morning from Culture Mediathe Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, Bruno Le Maire, returned to the possibility of restricting the functionalities of social networks in the event of riots.
And according to him, the objective is to “avoid that the networks turn into hate communities”. “This is what we saw for several days in France and it is totally unacceptable because it serves as a relay for hatred to go and burn shops, to go and loot shopkeepers, all of that is totally unacceptable. So in In this case, the activity of the account must be suspended”, advances Bruno Le Maire at the microphone of Philippe Vandel.
In addition to the possible suspension of accounts, Bruno Le Maire advances the possibility of “raising the IP addresses, as the Keeper of the Seals said. You cannot do anything, call for looting without being able to find you via your IP address, so that we can find you and then punish and sanction you. Social networks can’t be the jungle,” he insists.
“These dematerialized calls to hatred translate very concretely”
Also comes the responsibility of the platforms, and the possibility for the State to collaborate with them. A collaboration that already exists, assures Bruno Le Maire. “During the days of riots that we have known, when it was necessary to suspend, to stop messages, the platforms played the game”, specifies the Minister of Digital Sovereignty. “When there are calls to hatred, calls to violence, it is obvious that it is necessary to be able to find the authors of these calls to hatred and violence and to punish them.
This is what the Keeper of the Seals is committed to. He banged his fist on the table, rightly, to say that we cannot do everything and anything on social networks under the pretext that it is dematerialized. Because these dematerialized calls to hatred translate very concretely into fires, burning businesses or schools that are burned down, it is totally unacceptable”, insists Bruno Le Maire.
For the Minister of the Economy, the problem is not social networks, but the use that can be made of them. “If you exchange ideas, photos, travel impressions, no problem. If you use it to say ‘meet at such a time, at such a place to go and burn the town hall’, that’s a problem. It you must be prosecuted and punished”, concludes Bruno Le Maire at the microphone of Culture Media.