Emmaneul Macron has said rioters are using social media platforms like SnapChat, Telegram, and Tiktok to organise illegal gatherings and film violent assaults.
The French President is reportedly discussing the possibility of banning certain features on social media after he had a meeting with mayors of the cities worst affected by the recent rioting which erupted after a 17 year old Algerian youth was shot dead by police last week.
In a meeting with about 300 local leaders the president said, “we need to reflect on social media use among the youngest [and] on the prohibitions we must put in place,”
“When things get out of hand, perhaps you have to put yourself in a position to regulate or cut them,” he said
Marine Le Pen blasted members of the French Cabinet saying that 40 years of lax immigration policy had changed France from the “most courteous” country in the world into “a hell”.
She accused them of letting ‘ignorance of French culture’ prosper amid a growing hatred of French people and French laws.
“At a time when our country had just been delivered to plunder, plunder and an insensate fire, I would like to ask you the question that all French people ask themselves,” she said
“What have you done with France?,” she asked.
Le Pen said the “spectacle” of the riots which have seen parts of the country set alight with over 1,000 arrests, and the death of a young fireman ‘afflicts the whole world’ as well as France.
She said those in power had not learned any lessons from the riots of 2005 saying this had led to ‘a new national humiliation’
Le Pen called on the government to have the ‘courage of self criticism’ and admit to the “dramatic failure” of their policies.
“First and foremost, we must stop this anarchic immigration,” she said
In response to Macron’s calls to censor social media, French government Oliver Verán spokesman said that this would only take the form of ‘functional suspensions’.
“You have, for example, geolocation functions on certain platforms, which allow young people to meet up in certain locations … [while discussing] how to set fires, etc,” he said
“These are calls for the organisation of hatred in the public space, and there you have the authority to suspend [social media features],”
Le Pen has called for a general election in order to restore law by installing a nationalist government saying that without this those in power “will remain powerless to protect France”.