The minister responsible for the digital transition judged that social networks “played a role in amplifying the violence” during the riots that followed Nahel’s death.
By LL with AFP
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Lhe government questioned on Tuesday evening the role of social networks in the amplification of violence. The Minister responsible for the Digital Transition, Jean-Noël Barrot, proposed to the Senate the establishment of a working group.
As part of the bill to “secure” the Internet, Senator LR Patrick Chaize proposed an amendment directly related to the riots of the last few days, to allow social networks to be forced to block access, within a period of two hours, with content clearly inciting violence.
After an exchange in the hemicycle and a suspension of the session, the senator finally withdrew the amendment, however calling on the government to initiate reflection on this basis.
The Minister judged that it was “undeniable that social networks played a role in the amplification of violence”, but gave “a very unfavorable opinion” to this amendment “because it presents an extremely high risk of ‘unconstitutionality’.
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“We have to put responsibilities on them, but if the responsibilities lead them to infringe freedom of expression, then that means that we have not quite found the right formulas”, affirmed the minister, who calls for initiate a reflection between now and the start of the school year in order to “find a suitable wording”.
“The objective is that we have a sufficiently consensual drafting so that it passes the various stages of the shuttle and that, in fine, it is not censored by the Constitutional Council”, also declared the centrist rapporteur Loic Herve.
READ ALSORiots: on social networks, young people divided
The minister stressed that “from the first hours” of the violence following the death of young Nahel, killed by a policeman, the government had called the platforms to their responsibilities.
He said he had organized Tuesday “a new meeting to take stock of the week”: “Several thousand illegal contents have been removed, several hundred accounts have been deleted, several dozen requisitions to which the platforms have responded. “, he underlined.
“In addition, they have all taken a number of measures to prevent the parameters of their operation […]which can lead through virality to an amplification of violence, are attenuating,” he added.
2023-07-05 02:29:46
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