France asked ISPs to be ready to block major social platforms before Oct. 24 protests

The independent French outlet Blast has published documents indicating that the government was preparing in advance to cut off access to the largest social platforms on the day of a mass protest.

The letter to operators

Two days before the demonstration scheduled for October 24, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu reached out to the country's four leading telecom operators — Orange, SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom — asking them to be ready to block access to TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and X. Blast says it has obtained both the letter itself and the minutes of the meeting that followed.

Judging by those minutes, the operators greeted the initiative without enthusiasm and voiced doubts about such a measure.

The New Caledonia precedent

This is not the first time French authorities have reached for a social-media shutdown. The government already applied a similar measure in New Caledonia in 2024. On that occasion its actions were challenged, and the Conseil d'État — France's highest administrative court — found them untenable.

The very idea of technically blocking platforms at a government's request once again raises the question of how far the state may legitimately interfere with the workings of the internet, and whether cutting citizens off from the means of communication during moments of political tension can be lawful.

Source: Hacker News