France Bans Facebook and Twitter From Radio and TV

An anonymous reader writes "In France, radio and television news anchors are no longer allowed to say the words 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' on air, unless the terms are specifically part of a news story. The ban stems from a decree issued by the French government on March 27, 1992, which forbids the promotion of commercial enterprises on news programs."

Imagine...

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine something similar:
Visit us at www.texaco.com/abcnews for more information.

Inb4 "freedom of speech" comments

[Sparx139]

This isn't limiting freedom of speech. Granted it sucks (I know in Australia we've had all kinds of stupid/funny "if we get x followers on twitter we'll do y" things on breakfast shows that this sort of thing would stomp on were it here), but it doesn't have anything to do with civil rights.

Re:Unless

[Hylandr]

Check your history before flaming or modding me down.

If it weren't for France there wouldn't be an America. Seriously, Philosophically, financially, and with their military help America was established. Then they turned around and did for themselves too.

- Dan.

I am so conflicted over this...

[PyroMosh]

On the one hand, the freedom of speech lover in me thinks that this goes to far, as I do with many things the French do...

On the other hand, I imagine what CNN would be like if they had to report or analyze a story instead of asking what Twitter thinks of a story...

Re:Inb4 "freedom of speech" comments

[sco08y]

This isn't limiting freedom of speech. Granted it sucks (I know in Australia we've had all kinds of stupid/funny "if we get x followers on twitter we'll do y" things on breakfast shows that this sort of thing would stomp on were it here), but it doesn't have anything to do with civil rights.

How do you figure it's not limiting freedom of speech or, at least, freedom of the press?

It might be acceptable or justified based on whatever doctrine you're working from. But if you can't say X, Y or Z, it's a limitation, any way you slice it.

Generally, if you have to say something or can't say something, it impacts your freedom, but more importantly implements a level of control on you. And, generally, if someone went to the trouble of lobbying the government to control your speech, it will definitely sound like it's for the betterment of all mankind, but it will be tailored to their narrow interests.

Re:Inb4 "freedom of speech" comments

[sammyF70]

It's not about news ABOUT Twitter or Facebook. It's about PR related issues. So, the headline "Facebook's Owner, Marc Zuckerberg, killed by frikking bass with lasers he intended to eat" or even "Bill Gate's Twitter account hacked. His password was Chairs4Steve" are still allowed, whereas "Entertainment Industry comes to term with the fact that DRM is contra productive. Read more on our Facebook page" isn't. In the first two, mentioning the sites is relevant. In the last one it's just hidden advertising (Even if might be unwilling).

Re:Inb4 "freedom of speech" comments

[sammyF70]

it still isn't. "Amazon.com" (or "amazon.fr" in that case) can't be named in similar circumstances ( "Here is our review of "Harry Potter XIII - Resurrection". You can buy it at amazon.fr" isn't allowed, 'Amazon's worth increasing 10 fold on the stock market after Bezos calls his kid "Kindle"' is actually allowed.)

brand names

[dotsandlines]

Not that I agree with the French policy (or RTFS), but it's recently bothered me (in a very slight way) that we now have forms of communication that can only be referred to through the brand name. We could chat, text, fax, phone and blog without referring to a company name, but Tweets and Facebook posts seem harder to generalize. Just saying something's been "posted online" seems too vague. The proper generic verb hasn't been invented yet.

Good.

[radio4fan]

Any objective person can see that saying "Follow us on twitter!" is an endorsement of a commercial service, and it's not legal in France to pepper news programs with adverts like this.

The blogtards and upcoming posters who say "Stupid bans like these don't work" and "Next they will be after McDonalds and Disney" are either missing the point due to a lack of thought, or don't care about the point and just like to criticize France anyway.

Personally, I'm amazed that CSA have finally pulled their finger out and have reminded the broadcasters of their responsibilities.

Re:Unless

[thetoadwarrior]

I can't remember did France run away from Vietnam in a cute little bitch style like the Americans did?

Re:Unless

[RonnyJ]

That bit should be part of the headline. Terrible editing.

France Bans Facebook and Twitter From Radio and TV News

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