French diplomats need to be “more responsive” online. French President Emmanuel Macron urged them on Thursday to better respond to the attacks France is undergoing on social networks, particularly in Africa. “Our country is often attacked and it is attacked in public opinion, by social networks and manipulations”, observed the Head of State, in a speech before the French ambassadors gathered at the Elysée.
This is particularly the case in Africa where “the narrative, Russian, Chinese or Turkish” comes to explain to public opinion “that France is a country which is engaged in neocolonization and which installs its army on their soil”. The response goes first through a “real partnership policy” with the countries targeted, but “I think that, collectively, we must be much more reactive, much more mobilized on social networks”, insisted the President of the Republic.
Countering “anti-French propaganda”
“It is not a question of making propaganda”, he argued, but of countering “anti-French propaganda” and “combatting false narratives, false information and defending the reality of our action “. “Today we suffer too much, we do not do enough,” said Emmanuel Macron in front of the French ambassadors. The Head of State, who called for “taking on a strategy of influence and influence for France”, urged “better use of the France Médias Monde network, which is absolutely key, which must be a strength for us “.
France Médias Monde brings together the news channel France 24 and radio RFI. On social networks, France has been targeted by disinformation campaigns in Mali, against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions between Paris and Bamako. A lot of false information had thus circulated there in a viral way in 2021, relating to the supposed actions of French troops in the country.