The government spokesman, Olivier Véran, spoke this Wednesday, July 5, about the riots that have taken place in recent days in France. In particular, he returned to the potential “cut off” of social networks mentioned by Emmanuel Macron, in the event of a major crisis. An idea that has made the elected opposition react strongly, but also the majority.
Asked about this hypothesis, Olivier Véran contemplated, evoking rather “suspension of functionalities, such as geolocation, which allows users to be in such a place, to display such scenes…
“suspension of function”
The government spokesman seems to be referring, without citing, to the Snap Map, a service offered by the Snapchat application. The tool allows you to display videos in real time on a map, based on your geolocation. A tool especially in demand during riots. However, he did not detail the extent to which these decisions could actually be made.
Olivier Véran also recalled that in “the case of a crime, anonymity does not exist, and that the consequences can lead to sanctions”, citing “a strong call to the platforms to lift their anonymity when there are misdemeanors”.
The spokesman finally reaffirmed the government’s desire to form “a transpartisan working group”, already mentioned by Jean-Noël Barrot on the night of Tuesday, July 4. This would aim to study the violence-amplifying role that social media can play, particularly in the case of demonstrations and riots like those of recent days in France.
Source: BFM TV
