TikTok and eBay were among six online platforms summoned by the French government this week, as authorities sought to contain widespread rioting and looting and prevent the resale of stolen goods.
Anne Le Hananff, France’s minister of digital affairs, convened representatives from social media firms on Tuesday for an emergency meeting, after their platforms were blamed for fanning the flames of the worst civil unrest the country has seen in years. The goal of the meeting was to remind platforms that they need to moderate content on their sites, including livestream video, to avoid violent content or anything that could encourage people to break the imposed curfew, according to French TV station BFM.
A review by WIRED of TikTok found that the search term “blocus”—meaning blockade in French— showed videos that were potentially altered or AI-generated, including viral images of a protester in a Pink Panther costume. The search term is also being used to promote “Act II” of the protests for October 24. The platform issued an “evolving situation” tag on the search term that said: “This situation is developing rapidly. Information available now may be unverified, incomplete, inaccurate, or subject to change. Take care when viewing this content, and report anything that may violate our Community Guidelines.”
A separate meeting, confirmed by Serge Papin, minister for small and medium-size enterprises on X, was held on Monday with major online reselling platforms where “an agreement was signed” to crack down on the resale of looted goods. French newspaper Le Monde reported that Vinted, eBay, Amazon, LeBonCoin, Meta, and TikTok were at the meeting.
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