President Emmanuel Macron wants to fight “anti-French propaganda” which has been spreading throughout 2021.
France no longer intends to leave the digital terrain open to propagandists.
On Thursday September 1, Emmanuel Macron urged French diplomats to be “more reactive” on social media in order to better respond to attacks on their country’s public image, particularly in Africa.
For him, “the Russian, Chinese and Turkish narratives” have saturated the media space of some countries last year, which he did not name.
“Our country is often attacked and it is attacked in public opinion, by social media and manipulations,” the French leader observed in a speech to the French ambassadors gathered at the Elysée.
He denounced the fact that these opinions are often made to believe “that France is a country that is engaged in neo-colonisation and that installs its army on their soil.”
Faced with this situation, the head of state indicated that the response was first and foremost a “real partnership policy” with the target countries.
”But I think that, collectively, we must be much more reactive, much more mobilised on social media,” he insisted.
Macron, who called for the adoption of “a strategy of influence of France,” urged his compatriots to “make better use of the France Medias Monde network, which is absolutely key, which must be a strength for us.”
France Medias Monde includes the news channel France 24 and the radio station RFI, which is followed in several Sahel countries such as Mali.
This West African country, ruled by a military junta for more than two years, is in strained relations with France.
Some stakeholders are taking advantage of the situation to spread their propaganda on digital platforms.
France’s reaction is not aimed at “propaganda,” Macron said, but at countering “anti-French propaganda” and “fighting false narratives, false information and defending the reality of our action.”
He told his envoys: “Today, we suffer too much, we are not doing enough to tackle it”.
ODL/te/lb/as/APA