In the event of a crisis, can we really “cut” social networks in France?

Are we going to see cuts in certain apps? It is a solution mentioned by Emmanuel Macron in front of the mayors whose cities have been affected by the recent riots.

In recent nights, social networks have been particularly used, especially in the organization of riots after the death of the young Nahel. If Snapchat says “monitor the situation”, this did not prevent the application – like TikTok – from being received on Friday, June 30 at the Ministry of the Interior. But, are the wishes of the head of state achievable?

easily circumvented measures

The simplest solution is to set up a DNS block. The DNS (Domain Name System) is a tool used by each smartphone or computer to connect to a particular site. If this DNS were modified to prohibit access to a list of addresses, for example those of Facebook, Snapchat or TikTok, the user would find a blank page.

In theory, such blocking should be implemented by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which control the management of these DNS. But these methods are easy to circumvent, especially by using a VPN. Many Internet users fake their location using this type of software. By virtually changing your location, it is possible to bypass major lockdown measures carried out on a country scale.

Above all, the lawyer stresses that a DNS outage impacts the entire service. However, he warns about taking into account the repercussions that may arise from it. “Hacking Facebook also means cutting Messenger messages and making authentication features inaccessible to a site through a Facebook account,” says Alexandre Archambault.

With the potential chaos for part of the French web, which could encourage Internet service providers to refuse to implement such a measure, anticipates Alexandre Archambault.

Another solution is to directly ask the social networks to block their own distribution. The whole difficulty of this practice is justifying your request. Above all, the task is made more complex by the establishment of companies in Europe. Most of them based in Ireland, French requests could remain a dead letter.