France tightens the siege on social networks after the murder of the professor

Prime Minister Jean Castex in his appearance in Paris this Friday.POOL / Reuters

Would Abdouallakh Anzorov have managed to brutally assassinate Professor Samuel Paty if the address of his school had not been revealed on social media?

Could his death have been prevented if there had been curbs, as some kind of sanction, to those who try to pressure public officials such as the high school teacher who was beheaded for teaching cartoons of Muhammad in class?

One week after the terrible Islamist attack that has convulsed the whole of France, the Government does not want to ask itself these kinds of questions again.

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Friday his intention to strengthen the protection of public workers and to exercise greater control over social networks against possible threats.

"The surveillance of social networks and the fight against

hatred will be strengthened

," promised the head of government after holding a new defense council meeting focused on the threat of "Islamist separatism."

The Executive of Emmanuel Macron wants to fight against this threat in the new law that he will present at the end of the year.

Although the contents of the standard are still unknown in detail, Castex has advanced two of its main points.

The regulation will include "the possibility of sanctioning those who upload personal information on the Internet that endangers the lives of third parties, for example that of a teacher," said the prime minister in his short speech.

Speaking to

, the delegate Minister of Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, explained that they are working "on a crime of endangering the life of others on the Internet for those who publish private data, such as an address or telephone number."

The future law will also address “the reinforcement of the protection of public officials and agents, penalizing those who exert pressure on them, as happened in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (the town on the outskirts of Paris where the attack took place) against Paty and the school principal ”.

As for more concrete and immediate actions, Castex has announced that the Pharos platform, an online tool to report illegal content and behavior on the Internet, will be "reinforced in terms of numbers without further delay."

To further facilitate the processing of complaints, a "specialized center will be created within the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office to centralize legal actions and improve their effectiveness."

As revealed by the prime minister, a week after the "dramatic attack" against Samuel Paty, Pharos received 1,279 new complaints, "which have allowed 27 arrests."

In addition, Castex has announced that in the same period 56 home controls have been carried out of the 123 that were decided after the murder of the professor.

Shortly after Paty's beheading, Macron announced an "action plan" against "the structures, associations or people close to radicalized circles" that spread appeals to hatred.

On Wednesday, the Pantin mosque, on the outskirts of Paris, was closed, accused of having distributed one of the videos against the professor on its networks and of allowing an imam considered radicalized to preach.

Despite the fact that the measure has been denounced as a communication coup, Castex assured this Friday that "in the next few days" other facilities will be closed throughout the country, although it did not offer further details.

Schiappa did advance in

the creation of a "unit for the defense of republican discourse on social networks."

The objective, he explained, is to "respond" to the Islamist propaganda "of systematic victimization without anyone denying them."

The former head of Equality gave the example of the recent police record of the Islamic association BarakaCity, which the Government has announced that it wants to dismantle.

“Immediately afterwards, we saw messages emerge like: 'poor people, that's Islamophobia'… But we are in a rule of law.

If there is a record under the authority of a judge, it is because there were elements in a court case.

We have spent several days responding, the Interior spokeswoman has made a video.

Next time, the counter-speech will be ready to defend our values ​​”, explained Schiappa.

The minister pointed out that France will be inspired by similar actions already carried out by countries such as the United Kingdom or Germany.