What does France have against the free press?
Yes, it’s true that (like America’s 2016 election) a candidate expected to win allegedly suffered a massive hack in the days leading up to France’s contentious election.
But can French media outlets and citizens talk about it publicly? Not really, as USA TODAY reports:
The commission urged French media and citizens “not to relay” the leaked documents “in order not to alter the sincerity of the vote.” It said spreading of such data “is liable to be classified as a criminal offense.” … Under French law, the candidates and the media are under a 44-hour legal blackout beginning Friday at midnight until the last polling station is closed on Sunday. The law bars any campaigning and media coverage seen as swaying the election.
A translated statement from the “National Commission for the Control of the Election Campaign for the Presidential Election” told French voters:
The Commission emphasizes that the dissemination or the re-broadcasting of such data, obtained fraudulently and in all likelihood, Misleading information, is likely to receive a criminal qualification in several respects and to hold the perpetrators accountable. On the eve of the most important election deadline for our institutions, it calls on all actors present on websites and social networks, first and foremost the media, but also all citizens, Of responsibility and not to relay these contents, in order not to alter the sincerity of the vote, not to break the prohibitions laid down by the law and not to expose oneself to the commission of criminal offenses. Is liable to receive a criminal qualification for several reasons and to incur the responsibility of its authors. On the eve of the most important election deadline for our institutions, it calls on all actors present on websites and social networks, first and foremost the media, but also all citizens, Of responsibility and not to relay these contents, in order not to alter the sincerity of the vote, not to break the prohibitions laid down by the law and not to expose oneself to the commission of criminal offenses. Is liable to receive a criminal qualification for several reasons and to incur the responsibility of its authors. On the eve of the most important election deadline for our institutions, it calls on all actors present on websites and social networks, first and foremost the media, but also all citizens, Of responsibility and not to relay these contents, in order not to alter the sincerity of the vote, not to break the prohibitions laid down by the law and not to expose oneself to the commission of criminal offenses.
This is censorship, plain and simple. In the Internet age, reporters and citizens around the globe can share information—be it about the Macron hack or not—on Twitter, Facebook, or on their websites.
The French press and citizenry?
Repressed.
Merde.
