Tag: france

France Just Redefined Global Speech on TikTok

TikTok’s decision to block the “SkinnyTok” hashtag across its entire platform followed direct intervention from the French government, revealing how national pressure is increasingly shaping global online speech, even when the content in question is not illegal.

French Digital Minister Clara Chappaz just claimed victory, celebrating the platform’s removal of the term often associated with extreme dieting and weight loss trends. “This is a first collective victory,” she wrote on X after TikTok confirmed the ban was now global.

A spokesperson for the platform stated the hashtag was removed as part of ongoing safety reviews and due to its“link to “unhealthy weight loss content.”

While the move has been portrayed as a step forward for user safety, particularly for young audiences, it also raises deeper concerns about the role of governments in controlling speech on private platforms.

The “SkinnyTok” content, though considered by some to be harmful, does not violate any laws. Still, the French government managed to pressure TikTok into removing it worldwide. This maneuver highlights a growing trend in which authorities seek to influence online content standards beyond their own borders, often using platforms as enforcers.

Rather than work through the European Commission or wait for outcomes from the ongoing investigation under the Digital Services Act (DSA), France chose to confront TikTok directly.

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French experts fled Newsom’s project, said California was ‘more dysfunctional’ than North Africa…

This story’s a couple years old, but it’s making the rounds again, and the timing couldn’t be better, with Gavin Newsom likely eyeing a 2028 presidential run.

It’s a perfect snapshot of the political dysfunction rotting this country from the inside out, especially in California. Remember the infamous California bullet train debacle? The one that was supposed to be a marvel of American infrastructure but turned into a flaming dung heap of taxpayer waste?

READ MORE: Why are these Biden-era weaponized DOJ cases still going strong under Trump?

Here’s a quick update on the fiasco, which is now a full decade behind schedule and $10 billion over budget.

Kevin Dalton:

Gavin Newsom 2010: California is going to get it right with this new high speed rail. Reality 2024: The $33 BILLION high speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco to be completed in 2020 is now a $128 BILLION train from Bakersfield to Merced with no expected date of completion. Trump 2025: Shut it down

Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, has been trying – and failing – to build this railway for a ridiculous 17 years.

And yet, nobody seems to know where all that money went.

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France BANS smoking in nearly all outdoor spaces

France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, like beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister said on Thursday.

‘Where there are children, tobacco must disappear,’ Catherine Vautrin said in an interview published by regional outlet Ouest-France.

The restrictions will come into force on July 1, and failure to comply with the draconian ban could result in a £114 fine, the minister said, adding that children have the ‘right to breathe clean air.’

Cigarettes will also be banned in areas close to schools to prevent students from ‘smoking in front of their establishments.’ 

The ban does not apply to cafe terraces – or include electronic cigarettes. 

The government’s National Anti-Tobacco Programme for 2023 to 2027 proposed a smoking ban similar to the one announced by Vautrin, calling for France to ‘rise to the challenge of a tobacco-free generation from 2032.’ 

But anti-tobacco organisations had voiced concern the authorities were dragging their feet on implementing the measures. 

Vautrin said there were no plans to place additional taxes on cigarettes ‘at the moment’. 

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French Leftist Anarchists Claim Responsibility for Cannes Power Outage Sabotage

Far-left anarchists have claimed responsibility for sabotage attacks on electrical systems and causing power outages in Southern France over the weekend, including at the Cannes Film Festival.

Posting on the far-left online platform IndyMedia, an anonymous group of anarcho-radicals claimed to have sabotaged key electrical infrastructure over the weekend, which left around 160,00 people without power in the Alpes-Maritimes department and around 45,000 in Nice.

The suspected sabotage attacks began in the late hours of Friday evening and continued through Sunday, briefly impacting the closing of the Cannes Film Festival, which the leftist arsonists branded an “obscene ceremony by a sea that has become a refugee cemetery.” However, the event organisers were able to run the programme off backup generators, and therefore, the finale was ultimately uninterrupted.

The supposed saboteurs, who described themselves as “two bands of anarchists”, said that their intention was to both interrupt the film festival as well as shut off power to Thales Alenia Space and other French defence contractors in the region, which they accused of fostering a world which “will not stop bombing, exploiting, extracting, grabbing, raping, ravaging, starving, machine-gunning, polluting, and exterminating, until everything is under its control.”

They accused the French government of being hypocritical, saying that while it preaches the principles of “progress on the international scene,” it is the second-largest arms exporter in the world behind the United States.

“French excellence in this area arms NATO and sows death, from Yemen to Gaza, from Ukraine to the Sahel,” they said, adding that the defence firms in the Cannes region employ thousands of engineers and technicians who “work there daily to develop these military (observation, communication, missile and drone guidance) and civilian (telecommunications, surveillance) satellites.”

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Outrage as British Trawler Detained by French Navy Days After PM Starmer Betrays Fishing Industry in His ‘Brexit Reset’

Failing British Prime Minister is under fire for his ‘Brexit Reset’ deal with the European Union, in which he basically sold out his Fishing Industries by allowing EU boats unfettered access to the UK’s waters for the next 12 years.

The situation became even more volatile after a British trawler was held in French custody yesterday (24) after it was allegedly caught operating without a license in the English Channel.

Daily Mail reported:

“The Lady T, which is based in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was being held in Boulogne-Sur-Mer on Saturday and now risks being confiscated. She was caught by the Pluvier, a French Navy ship, on Thursday, and the catamaran’s skipper now faces prosecution for fishing for whelks without a license.”

This comes days after Starmer closed a deal with the EU on fishing rights which is seen as hugely favoring the French.

The French Navy’s ‘public service patrol vessel’, the Pluvier, was inspecting in the French Exclusive Economic Zone.

French Maritime Authority spokesman: “’During this operation, which was part of the State’s maritime enforcement, a British fishing vessel was inspected by sailors from the Navy patrol vessel while fishing without a license in French waters.

‘As the offence was proved, the fishing vessel was diverted during the night of May 23rd to the port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer, following the instructions of the Delegate for the Sea and Coastline, acting on behalf of the Regional Prefect, who oversees the fisheries police, for the purpose of initiating prosecution under the authority of the Public Prosecutor.’”

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French justice minister calls for abolishing cash

France’s Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin has proposed abolishing cash transactions, arguing that digital payments – including cryptocurrencies – are much easier to trace than physical money and would help authorities combat drug trafficking and other criminal activity.

Restrictions on cash transactions in France and across the EU have already tightened in recent years.

Speaking before a Senate commission on Thursday, Darmanin said that “a large part of daily delinquency and even criminal networks rely on cash,” and declared that “the end of cash would prevent the establishment of drug dealing points.”

Darmanin, who previously oversaw public finances as Minister of Public Action and Accounts, acknowledged that banning physical money wouldn’t eliminate the drug trade, but insisted that “once the money is traceable,” it becomes “more complicated” for both consumers and dealers to escape financial oversight.

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George Simion files a formal request with the Constitutional Court to annul the elections, accusing France and Moldova of electoral manipulation.

George Simion, presidential candidate and vice president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party, has filed a formal petition with Romania’s Constitutional Court to annul the May 2025 presidential elections, citing massive foreign interference that he claims compromised the sovereign will of the Romanian people.

Simion, who secured the support of more than 5.3 million voters in an extremely tight race, shared an exclusive press release directly with Gateway Hispanic, detailing allegations of electoral manipulation.

In this document, the patriotic leader denounces the intervention of both state and non-state actors—primarily from France and Moldova—in a coordinated effort to manipulate institutions, control media narratives, and impose an electoral outcome that does not reflect the people’s will.

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Trained and Sponsored by France, the 155th Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade ‘Anne de Kyiv’ Is Under Investigation for Corruption, Embezzlement and Mass Desertion

A brigade idealized by French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, trained and equipped in France, has become an endless source of scandal.

Ukrainian and French media report on the mass desertion in the 155th Ukrainian mechanized brigade ‘Anne de Kyiv’, where almost a quarter has deserted.

Le Figaro reported (translated from the French):

“This unit was intended to be a successful combat force of the Ukrainian army. But since its deployment to the front, it has been multiplying controversies over equipment shortages, including drones, and mass abandonment of posts among its soldiers.

The Ukrainian army announced on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, that it was launching an inspection of the “Anne of Kiev” brigade, trained and equipped by France to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, but which has been at the heart of scandals concerning embezzlement and desertions for months.”

The brigade was hailed by Macron and Zelensky as ‘a symbol of military cooperation between Kyiv and Paris’.

Ukrainian magazine Ukrainska Pravda revealed on Monday (19) that Colonel Tarass Maksimov was involved in a case of false payments and extortion of money from his troops.

“The brigade is also facing some 1,200 abandonments of posts, while its numbers include less than 5,000 soldiers, about half of whom were trained in France. ‘After the publication of the article in Ukrainska Pravda, I ordered an additional official inspection of the facts revealed by the journalists’, the commander of the ground forces Mykhailo Drapaty was quoted as saying by the newspaper.”

The ‘Anne of Kiev’ Brigade has been criticized since its deployment to the front, with the Ukrainian General Staff using its soldiers to ‘plug holes’ in other units.

“About 2,300 of the brigade’s soldiers were trained on French soil and equipped with French VAB transport vehicles, AMX-10 tanks and Caesar self-propelled guns, as well as ammunition and anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles. Emmanuel Macron had visited the soldiers of the Ukrainian 155th Brigade in October 2024 during their training in France.”

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DEVIL’S ISLAND 2.0: Macron’s France To Build New High-Security Prison in the Tropical Jungle of French Guiana, Near the Site of One of the World’s Most Infamous Hell-Holes

After unchecked French Organized Crime Gangs promoted nightly attacks against prisons, it appears that Paris will at long last start thinking seriously about tackling the problem – even if they go about it in a surprising way.

If you were surprised that US President Donald J. Trump floated the idea of rebuilding the Alcatraz prison, just brace yourself for the French idea of building a successor for one of the most infamous prisons in history, L’Îlle du Diable – Devil’s Island.

Today, during a visit to the French Guiana territory, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that the government will build a new high-security prison in the territory.

It will be used, according to the Minister, ‘to house drug traffickers and radical Islamists’.

BBC reported:

“Gérald Darmanin told Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) newspaper that the prison would target organized crime ‘at all levels’ of the drug supply chain.

The €400m (£337m) facility, which could open as early as 2028, will be built in an isolated location deep in the Amazon jungle in the northwestern region of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni.”

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Telegram Founder: Macron Regime Interfered in Romanian Elections by Pressuring Him to Silence Conservatives Ahead of the Vote—Musk Backs Durov

In a disturbing and all-too-familiar turn of events, Romania’s recent presidential election has been marred by foreign interference, blatant censorship attempts, and an alarming assault on national sovereignty.

The increasingly desperate and unscrupulous globalist establishment—now led by France—is facing serious accusations of attempting to subvert Romanian democracy. Allegations have surfaced that French authorities pressured the founder of the influential social media platform Telegram to silence conservative voices after anti-globalist candidates Calin Georgescu and George Simion scored decisive victories—first in an annulled initial round, and again in the re-run that followed.

In the re-run of the first round of the election held on May 4, Simion, a conservative-nationalist firebrand who opposes military entanglements in Ukraine and champions Romania-first policies, threatened to upend the left-liberal globalist order by securing 40% of the vote.

But as we’ve all witnessed, an electoral defeat means little to the globalist establishment. Losing at the ballot box does not compel them to relinquish power—far from it.

Last year, when independent nationalist Calin Georgescu won the first round with a commanding lead, the Constitutional Court annulled the results, citing vague “irregularities” and supposed “Russian interference.” Unsurprisingly, no evidence was ever produced. Georgescu was then banned from running again—a chilling move condemned by pro-humanity forces across Europe and ignored completely or forcefully supported by globalist regime enjoyers.

US Vice President J.D. Vance even cited the case earlier this year as proof of the EU’s escalating war on democratic sovereignty, saying, when the people vote the wrong way, the elites just cancel the results

Now, a new bombshell threatens to further delegitimize the already illegitimate Romanian election.  Pavel Durov, founder of the encrypted messaging app Telegram, revealed that French intelligence directly pressured him to silence Romanian conservatives online ahead of the election. Durov named Nicolas Lerner, head of France’s Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), as the official who attempted to strong-arm him during a private meeting in Paris.

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