2023-07-03 11:15:00
SOCIAL NETWORKS – Does Twitter censor content related to the riots in France? Accused by the executive of instigating a “form of mimicry of violence” through the dissemination of the videos, social networks were summoned by President Macron to withdraw the “most sensitive content”. On the blue bird, Internet users have been denouncing since last Saturday, July 1, censorship and “shadow bans” (reduction of the visibility of an account or its content without informing its user, editor’s note), affirming that the trends (tendencies on Twitter) related to the riots are no longer visible. Accusations against Twitter which mingle with the consequences of the latest decision by the boss of the social network, Elon Musk, who announced on Friday a limitation of the number of tweets visible to Internet users.
Friday June 30, Emmanuel Macron received with his Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, his Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, his Minister of Digital, Jean-Noël Barrot, and the managers in France of the social networks Meta, Twitter, Snap or even Tik-Tok, urgently summoned.
“Social networks play a considerable role in the movements of the last days”, said the tenant of the Élysée. The resurgence of violence in French cities, which Macron attributes to “video game addiction”also finds its origin, according to the President of the Republic, in a “form of mimicry” compared to videos widely distributed on digital platforms.
???? “We will take several measures in the coming hours such as the removal of the most sensitive content related to these platforms [réseaux sociaux]”.
Emmanuel Macron pinpoints the role and place of social networks in the spread of violence in these… pic.twitter.com/Ly42itV3i5
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) June 30, 2023
If a quick tour of social media revealed that the top trending topics were all related to riots and clashes with law enforcement, this cause-and-effect relationship has been so strongly criticized.
“In permanent contact with the authorities”
The managers of Meta, Twitter and other social networks have thus been asked by the executive to endeavor to withdraw “the most sensitive content” and identify the perpetrators of calls for violence. The majority of these platforms already prohibit in their internal regulations content inciting violence, criminal activities or harming others, but the amount of content broadcast and relayed simultaneously seemed to undermine the moderation teams. Reason why social networks like Meta say they are “in permanent contact with French authorities” and have set up a “watch cell from the middle of the week to act as quickly as possible”.
Act to restrict the distribution of this content, but above all to identify the Internet users behind the accounts, including anonymous ones: this is an operation authorized by law of 2004 on trust in the digital economywhich obliges social networks to keep the data identifying the holders of the accounts in order to possibly transmit them to the authorities.
Including for the purposes of legal proceedings, according to a vehement statement by the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti: “Let the kids know clearly that we are going to blow the accounts. The judicial authority can, on requisition, ask the operators to deliver the IP addresses, which obviously allows us to arrive at the identity of those who use them to say when, where and how we are going to break”does he have warned.
Did social networks start censoring content related to the riots? Twitter is one of “main defendants” by French Internet users. The reproaches against the blue bird and its boss, the billionaire Elon Musk, are numerous. A lot denounce their “shadow ban”, a technique used by the Twitter moderation team to reduce the visibility of an account or its content without notifying its user.
They claim that their tweets don’t get any “likes”, no retweets (relaying a message), or even responses (comments). A state of affairs also denounced by highly followed Twitter accounts which claim, in addition, to have received an email warning from the blue bird about some of their tweets or to have been contacted by the Ministry of ‘Interior.
✍️ If we start not being able to tweet a simple video of the degradation of a deportation memorial in #Nanterre, where are we going ? Censorship is not a way to ease tensions. The media must be able to show the images of what is currently happening in the country…
— AlertesInfos (@AlertesInfos) July 1, 2023
The co-founder of the account @CerfiaFR information, declares having been contacted by the Ministry of the Interior to stop broadcasting the videos of the riots on its networks.
This one, “will favor more positive content”pic.twitter.com/79EcJJandl
— Damien Rieu (@DamienRieu) July 1, 2023
Musk accused of censorship after limit reading tweets
Other Internet users claim that trending keywords, usually accompanied by a hashtag (#riots, #CivilWar, #France, etc., to highlight current trends) no longer appeared in “trends” from a French IP address (in other words, with regard to users located in France, editor’s note).
However, from France or using a VPN server domiciled in France, the keywords are always pinned at the head of the trends and available, posting videos related to the riots… Moreover, Internet users ironic about these possible limitations broadcast videos themselves, making fun of a “censure” dysfunctional “government”.
What is it really? Many Twitter users showed, with supporting images, the censorship of their content or their “shadow ban”. These included screenshots of their Twitter feeds, where, since yesterday, a message appears indicating what “the rate limit has been exceeded”. Attributed to censorship, this post actually hinges on one of Musk’s latest decisions about his platform.
The head of Tesla and SpaceX, who promises to “to restart” Twitter and its decreasing revenues, has indeed announced to temporarily restrict the reading of messages on its platform, on an international scale. In a tweet published on Friday June 30, he explains this decision by the need to “address extreme levels of data collection and system manipulation” by third parties (it could be a “hostile” Artificial Intelligence, according to some sources, editor’s note), said the billionaire. A maneuver which would therefore have no connection with the news in France.
Verified accounts could initially read 6,000 tweets per day, compared to 600 for unverified accounts and 300 for new unverified accounts. Ceilings which were revised upwards on Saturday July 1, 2023.
To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits:
– Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day
– Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day
– New unverified accounts to 300/day— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023
This decision was also interpreted by Internet users as following the recent meeting between Emmanuel Macron, members of the government and the heads of several social networks or Tech giants, including Musk. Many claim that this measure is a censorship operation, no doubt influenced by a false document relayed on social networks – and denounced by the Ministry of the Interior as fake news – which claims that “temporary restrictions on internet access will be adopted in certain districts”.
#ViolencesUrbaines | Be careful with #FakeNews
????A press release from the @PoliceNationale would announce temporary restrictions on internet access in certain neighborhoods.
❌ This document is a FALSE: no decision has been made in this regard. pic.twitter.com/LQYPKxp0KO
– Ministry of the Interior and Overseas (@Interieur_Gouv) July 2, 2023
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