Emmanuel Macron has responded to attacks from Bolloré-owned media on his call to label information sources adhering to deontological rules to combat fake news. CNews and Le Journal du dimanche decried an authoritarian drift, while the president denied any intent to create a state label or ministry of truth. This debate arises amid rising tensions eighteen months before the presidential election.
On November 30, media outlets in the Bolloré group, followed by the far right and part of the right, launched an offensive against Emmanuel Macron after his call to 'label' sites and networks producing information according to deontological rules, to distinguish them from fake news propagators. They decried a 'liberticidal drift' and a threat to 'free speech,' echoing Trumpist arguments and accusing the president of an 'authoritarian drift.'
On December 1, in a video posted on X, the Élysée ironized: 'Pravda? Ministry of truth? When talking about fighting disinformation causes disinformation...' That same morning, Pascal Praud, host on CNews and Europe 1, criticized in his editorial 'the authoritarian temptation of a president unhappy with media treatment and wanting to impose a narrative.' The previous day, Le Journal du dimanche headlined: 'Emmanuel Macron: towards control of information,' evoking a 'ministry of truth.'
On December 2, during the council of ministers, Macron denied: 'The government is not going to create such and such a label for the press,' and 'even less a ministry of truth.' 'It is not, it will never be its role to do so,' he added.
This debate echoes Macron's longstanding interest in combating fake news. In 2018, after Russian interference during his campaign, he inspired a law promulgated on December 22, creating a civil référé to stop false information three months before an election, though it is hard to apply. He also praised the Journalism Trust Initiative by Reporters Without Borders to certify media adhering to deontology.
However, Macron risks being seen as judge and party, amid a tense relationship with the press since 2017, where he limited journalists' access and favored his own channels. He banalized the JDD takeover by Bolloré and courted Praud. Eighteen months before an unprecedented presidential election, under threats from algorithms, interferences, and the political influence of the Bolloré group, real questions arise about response tools, with education and critical thinking preferable to any institutional label.