Polemicist Eric Zemmour recovered his Instagram account on Friday.
“Thank you for your mobilization on social networks against censorship and for freedom of expression!
»He writes rightly.
The social network, it admits no desire for censorship, and puts forward an "error": "Eric Zemmour's account was deleted by mistake, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused.
It has since been restored, ”declares the company to Le Parisien.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Eric Zemmour (@ericzemmour_)
On Thursday, his account was deleted from the social network, for a reason neither he nor his team could explain.
“This morning Instagram made the arbitrary decision to ban my official account.
The GAFAM are engaged in a fierce struggle against the peoples who do not want to die.
They can censor me, but they cannot silence a whole people.
#STOPcensure, ”he wrote on Twitter.
The #STOPcensure hashtag was used by many of his supporters during the evening.
Marine Le Pen and Éric Ciotti in particular denounced censorship for one, and an attack on freedom of expression for the other.
A petition of support
He, in the process, relayed a petition launched on the sidelines of his trial to be held on September 8 for "incitement to discrimination" and "racial insults". He is being prosecuted following his statements on September 29, on CNews, about unaccompanied minors. "They have nothing to do here, they are thieves, they are murderers, they are rapists, that's all they are, they must be sent back and they must not even come", had- he launched on the set. The petition put online at the time to denounce the circumstances of this lawsuit gained visibility with the events of Thursday, and exceeds 31,000 signatures.
Instagram is often criticized for its obscure moderation. It often happens that posts or accounts are deleted, without knowing exactly why. Recently, the poster for Pedro Almodóvar's new film "Madres Paralelas", which features a drop of milk hanging from a nipple, was deleted from Instagram. The American firm backtracked and apologized to the director in the face of the outcry on social networks.