The Republican counter-discourse unit, which was launched after the assassination of Samuel Paty to fight Islamism on social networks, has identified around twenty profiles
"particularly active"
in the dissemination of anti-discourse. Republican in French, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.
To read also In Conflans, a year after the assassination of Samuel Paty, the concern remains keen
A few days after the assassination on October 16, 2020 of history and geography professor Samuel Paty, the Minister for Citizenship Marlène Schiappa announced the creation of a
"Republican counter-discourse unit (UCDR) on social networks" .
A year later, around twenty French-speaking authors - people or organizations -
"particularly active"
were identified as the main disseminators of hate speech and
"from separatist movements"
, according to a source at the Ministry of the Interior.
"The assassination of Samuel Paty has accentuated the feeling that we must act on social networks"
, Marlène Schiappa repeated Friday in front of some journalists, referring to the campaign that had been waged against the professor on the internet, based on the lie of a student from his college.
The goal is therefore to intensify the fight against hate speech and
"separatist"
, all under the authority of the general secretariat of the Interministerial Committee for the prevention of crime and the fight against radicalization (CIPDR) chaired by the prefect Christian Gravel .
"We must respond to these speeches"
and
"help poorly informed young people on social networks to exercise their free will by producing clean content advocating the values of the Republic,"
said Marlène Schiappa. Made up of a team of around fifteen members ("community managers", computer graphics artists, "motion designers"), its role is to
"monitor carefully"
,
"respond to extremist content"
and to teach through posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
"We must reach out to the new generations but also the others because today everyone is making their opinion on the networks"
, insists the Ministry of the Interior. According to Marlène Schiappa, the search of the premises of the Baraka City association, now dissolved, had given rise to multiple comments accusing the government of
"Islamophobia"
and misleading information. Today, says a source at the ministry,
"the majority"
of content related to the practice of Islam on social networks in France
"is connected to the Salafist sphere and falls within Islamism, very far from the spiritual sphere ”.
The work ofunit focuses on
"the pervasive Islamist threat"
and
"On other forms of separatism",
such as the ultra-right.
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