Social media giants TikTok and Snapchat heard a plea for help Friday from French President Emmanuel Macron as he looks for ways to tamp down coverage of the violent riots engulfing the country.
“Social media platforms play a significant role in the events of the past few days”, Macron said in televised remarks from an inter-ministerial emergency meeting as he pleaded with rioters to cease and desist.
Macron notably called on the platforms to delete the “most sensitive” content, adding he expected from them “the spirit of responsibility.” He did not say who would decide what content was “most sensitive.”
Citing TikTok and Snapchat, Reuters reports he said social media help rioters organise themselves but also contributed to “mimicking” behaviour by some young people, who repeated what they saw online and lost track of reality.
“It sometimes feels like some of them re-live in the streets the video games that have intoxicated them,” he said.
WATCH: Fire and Destruction in Paris After Police Fatally Shoot Fleeing Teen
@contactrevol via Storyful, @guillaume_mdr83 via Storyful, @gymmtd via Storyful
The president promised his government will work with social networks towards withdrawing “the most sensitive types of content” while seeking disclosure of the identities of “those who use these social networks to call for disorder and promote violence.”
Macron’s effort to engage social media companies in shutting down and identifying the accounts his government deem as contributing to social unrest came as he said he is considering “all options” including a nationwide state of emergency after another night of violence, as Breitbart London reported.
The wild events across France saw hundreds of arrests and injured police officers alongside thousands of fires, including many symbols of the state including town halls, schools, post offices, and buses destroyed.
Macron’s France Ablaze for Second Night as Anger, Street Violence Builds over Police Shooting https://t.co/7MJIsfl361
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 29, 2023
Some 40,000 police officers are now deployed across France in an attempt to forestall a third night of violence triggered by the death on Tuesday of a delivery driver at the hands of a police officer in a Paris suburb after he refused to comply with a traffic stop.