“It is regrettable that an administrative decision to suspend TikTok service has been taken in the territory of New Caledonia.” In a press release, the Chinese platform is surprised by the decision announced Wednesday by Gabriel Attal, prohibiting its access to the island. The social network claims to have received “no request or question, nor request for content removal from local authorities or the French government,” the press release indicates. In a series of measures unveiled Wednesday evening to ensure security in the territory, plagued by violence, the government took the decision to suspend the use of TikTok.
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According to our information, the platform has not received reports from Pharos, the government website which warns the various social networks of the presence of potentially illicit content and behavior on their application. In this specific case, no content or example of videos would have been transmitted to TikTok to request their deletion.
For the moment, TikTok is the only social network to be subject to such a ban. Which surprises an observer close to the matter, for whom no content would violate “the community rules of the social network”, he explains to Le Figaro, expressing surprise at its suspension, while the platform has “no geolocation » allowing the assembly of possible rioters on the territory.
Other social networks have already been singled out in the past in moments of tension in the country. Like Snapchat, which was blamed by Emmanuel Macron at the time of the riots in the summer of 2023. The latter and TikTok were accused of allowing the proliferation of content showing the violence committed in several cities in France, after the death of Nahel at the end of June 2023. This did not, however, lead to their suspension.
For their part, the TikTok teams assure they are monitoring “the situation very carefully and ensuring that our platform is safe,” they specify. The Chinese social network is currently in contact with the government to clarify the situation. This decision taken by the executive would come against a backdrop of fear of interference and disinformation on social networks. According to information obtained by the site Numerama, which questioned the Prime Minister’s office, TikTok would be used “as a medium for the dissemination of disinformation on social networks, fueled by foreign countries.”
