During the weeks of rioting that gripped France in summer 2023 – sparked by the death of a teenage boy at the hands of police – president Emmanuel Macron laid part of the blame for the disorder at the door of social media.

The French president reportedly said: “We have to think about the social networks, about the bans we’ll have to put in place. When things get out of control, we might need to be able to regulate or cut them off.”

His comments were made at a private meeting of 200 local mayors whose communes had been affected by the rioting. Afterwards, the government somewhat rowed back on his comments, saying that he had merely been discussing ideas.

However, when violent riots gripped the French Pacific islands of Nouvelle-Calédonie (New Caledonia) in mid-May, prime minister Gabriel Attal announced the government would block the social media app TikTok, claiming the violence was organised and encouraged on its platform. 

Immediately, objections were lodged by the French Ligue des droits de l’Homme (human rights league), the charity La Quadrature du Net and several residents of Nouvelle Calédonie.

Their appeal was fast-tracked to the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest judicial court which rules on cases where citizens are in conflict with the government, as well as scrutinising proposed new laws and decrees. 

On Tuesday, the court announced that it had given the government an extra 24 hours to provide evidence of the role that TikTok has played in the violence.

The case

The Conseil d’Etat is examining, specifically, appeals filed against the government’s actions in Nouvelle-Calédonie, rather than the entire concept of cutting internet or social media services.

As well as playing a role in scrutinising planned new laws, the Conseil also acts as an arbitrator between citizens and the government – for example, the court heard several appeals filed by private citizens during the Covid lockdowns, arguing that the restrictions impinged on their personal freedoms. Ultimately, the court decided that the severity of the health situation justified such draconian restrictions.

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In the case of Nouvelle-Calédonie, it is again asking the government to justify imposing restrictions on the population.

During a court hearing on Tuesday, the government’s representative highlighted the “strong match” between the profile and age of the rioters and those of the TikTok users, in order to justify its blocking.

The government’s case is that rioters used the app to organise their actions, as well as to “broadcast violent videos that arouse the public” – similar to the claims made by Macron during the summer 2023 riots in France.

However, the plaintiffs denounced “the absence of concrete elements proving the alleged link between the use of TikTok and the violence”, in particular extracts of such content from the social network.

The judge granted the government additional time to file evidence of the existence of these videos, such as screenshots.

What now?

The government must prove its case, rulings from the Conseil d’Etat are final and there is no right of appeal.

However this case refers specifically to the situation in Nouvelle-Calédonie, and would not necessarily set a precedent for internet blockages in different circumstances.

What does the law say?

French law contains a provision from 1955 which allows the government to block broadcasts or cut access to a network if – and only if – it is broadcasting “incitement to acts of terrorism or apology for terrorism”.

Although the law doesn’t specifically mention the internet (because it didn’t exist in 1955), its wording is broad enough to include web-based services. However, in Nouvelle-Calédonie the test for “inciting acts of terrorism” has not been met.

The government, therefore, seems to be relying on a broader concept of “exceptional circumstances” that allows the state to take extreme measures – it was this concept that was used to impose Covid-related restrictions. However, even during the pandemic, individual Covid-related measures such as lockdowns and mask mandates were scrutinised by the Conseil d’Etat, while the declaration of the state of emergency had to be regularly voted on in parliament.

Several days into the violence on Nouvelle-Calédonie, Macron declared a state of emergency – this state allows the government extra powers, but if it wants to extend the state of emergency beyond the two-week mark, it must be voted on in parliament.

The geographical situation of Nouvelle-Calédonie – an archipelago of small islands served by a single telecoms operator – has also made the ban easier to impose from a technical point of view. A similar ban in mainland France would require the cooperation of all operators and agreement at a European level.