France, or should we say its president, Nicolas Sarkozy is not comfortable when it comes to unbridled freedom for internet. He
made his views abundantly clear during the recent EG-8 meeting. And now it looks like that he is all set to put his views in to actions. France has now issued a decree that prohibits TV and Radio from using words 'Twitter' and 'Facebook' on air. Ostensibly, the step has been taken to ensure that no single social network gets publicity at the cost of other competing websites. But this type of 'micro-management' is the harbinger of the things to come.
To be fair, the history of this ban can be traced back to 1992, when the French government banned the news programs from promoting commercial organizations. However, the latest step has been criticized by the experts and bloggers, who are claiming that 'Twitter' and 'Facebook' are now so ingrained in our daily life, that any such ban is nothing but absurd. The law effectively means that news channels now cannot even carry out basic activities such as asking their viewers to follow their Twitter feed or to Like their Facebook page.
While the France's Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA) has endorsed the government's decision, there are plenty who are opposing this archaic rule. An expat blogger Matthew Fraser has been quoted as saying that the new requirement is exactly the kind of thing you would expect from a government which is "infamous for its oppressive bureaucratic culture of legalistic codes and decrees." Now, as a staunch supporter of 'freedom of speech', France needs to do a little soul-searching to find where it truly stands when it comes to the freedom of expression.