Emmanuel Macron aims to revive the debate in France on digital dangers, as the Shein affair exposes states' impotence against platforms and non-compliance with EU legislation. Former commissioner Thierry Breton criticizes the failure to apply laws adopted in 2022. These efforts highlight tensions between regulation and digital giants' excesses.
In the final stretch of his term, following the failed dissolution of the National Assembly in June 2024, Emmanuel Macron has set himself the mission to 'make live' the debate on 'democracy under trial by social networks and algorithms.' Personally affected by digital excesses – his wife Brigitte Macron filed two lawsuits, in France and the United States, for cyberharassment after a rumor spread on social media claiming she was a man –, the president gathered around 200 experts and field actors on October 28 at the Élysée. The goal was to launch a 'work of resistance' and build a 'common action project' against Internet and social media threats to democracy and elections.
On October 29, at the Peace Forum in Paris, Macron criticized social networks as information sources. 'We messed up, it's totally wrong to go get informed there,' he stated. He denounced these platforms, like YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok – which he uses for his own communication –, as tools 'made to sell individualized advertising,' seeking to 'create maximum excitement' to generate traffic and maximize ad revenues. According to him, this operation 'blows up' the merit order of democracies, based on argumentation and truth.
Meanwhile, the Shein affair highlights states' impotence. This Chinese platform is under government surveillance and faces judicial proceedings after the discovery of child-like appearance sex dolls and category A weapons on its site. Thierry Breton, former EU commissioner for the internal market (2019-2024), is surprised that European legislation – including the Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), Data Act, and AI Act, adopted unanimously by member states and by over 90% of European deputies in 2022 – has not been applied since 2023, despite blatant violations by digital giants. 'If we had applied the laws voted at the European level, we would not have to act in urgency and haste,' he states in an interview with Le Monde. Donald Trump's election seems to have freed some platform owners from any commitment.