Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

VIRAL

Frenchman becomes web star in underpants

A shovel-wielding Frenchman has become an unwitting star of the internet after social media users took the chance to edit a photo of him wearing his underwear.

Published: 9 November 2015 18:06 CET
Frenchman becomes web star in underpants
The shovel-wielding Frenchman turns on the cameraman. Photo: AFP
The original pictures were taken in south western France after activists and some journalists were protesting about the poaching of finches in the town of Audon.
 
The protesters were on the scene destroying traps intended for a species of finch that has been protected since 1976, reported Le Parisien newspaper.
 
However, the group was met by local man with a shovel, who was wearing nothing more than a T-shirt and his underwear. 
 
An AFP photographer on the scene captured a few images of the man's violent shovel attack on the group, pictures which were then published widely across French media. 
 
 
The images, however, proved too tempting for French social media users, who were quick to photoshop the Frenchman into different scenes from film history and popular culture.
 
The Frenchman found himself in Star Wars, the Walking Dead, in sports events from around the world, and even at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Here's a selection of the images:
 
 
The story has since gone international, covered by  sites such as BuzzFeed America.
 
By Monday evening, the hashtag #SlipGate remained the top trend on Twitter in Paris. See more images here. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FACEBOOK

Denmark proposes new law to make Facebook pay for news and music

The government is to forward a bill on Friday proposing tech giants such as Facebook and Google pay Danish media for using content on their platforms.

Published: 26 March 2021 12:17 CET
Denmark proposes new law to make Facebook pay for news and music
File photo: Regis Duvignau/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

The proposal will also mean platforms used to share media, such as YouTube, will be required to make agreements with rights holders in order to display videos or music, the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.

A comparable law recently took effect in Australia, resulting in all news pages being temporarily blocked for Facebook users in the southern hemisphere country.

READ ALSO: Could Denmark force Facebook to pay for news content?

“The media plays a central role in our democracy and ensures that public debate takes place on an infrormed basis,”culture minister Joy Mogensen said in the statement.

“If the media are to be able to continue making journalism, they should of course be paid for its use,” she added.

The proposal will provide for rights holders such as musicians or media outlets to be given a new publishing right which will enable them to decide who can use their content.

As such, companies like Facebook and Google will need permission to use the content online.

The Danish proposal builds on an EU directive which gives individual media outlets the right to agree deals with tech giants.

The bill put forward by Mogensen will allow Danish media to make a collective agreement with the tech companies providing for payment when their content is used.

An interest organisation for Danish media companies has backed the proposal.

“We have wanted to be able to enter collective agreements with tech giants because that would strengthen the media companies’ position,” Louise Brincker, CEO of Danske Medier, told newspaper Berlingske. Brincker noted she had not yet read the full proposal.

Media will not be obliged to make agreements with the tech companies, however. Complaints to the Danish copyright board, Ophavsretslicensnævnet, will be possible under the new law, should it be passed by parliament.

The bill will become law on June 7th should it receive the backing of a parliamentary majority.

Both Facebook and Google decline to comment to Berlingske on the matter, stating they had yet to see the bill in full.

SHOW COMMENTS