The petition, launched in June by independent consultant Lucas Massoni, describes CNews as a “propaganda machine” and compares it to the American channel Fox News. It accuses the media regulator ARCOM of failing to regulate the channel despite previous reprimands and calls for the immediate withdrawal of CNews’s digital terrestrial television (TNT) convention and the closure of the channel. Massoni told the newspaper Libération that he did not anticipate such an echo, noting that his initial motivation stemmed from remarks made on CNews following the election of Bally Bagayoko.
Interest in the initiative remained low until late October, when it gained traction following the racist attacks in Trappes and La Verrière on October 23. Signature counts rose sharply, passing 100,000 on October 27-28, exceeding 300,000 on October 31, and reaching 500,000 on November 2. The crossing of the 500,000 threshold mandated a meeting of the commission’s bureau last Tuesday, which has now scheduled a formal vote for 13:00 on Tuesday, November 10.
Alexandre Portier, president of the Culture Commission, stated that members expect “the construction of a debate on freedom of expression.” He also cited potential discussions regarding regulation, pluralism, and information management in the age of social networks. Under parliamentary rules, if the commission votes to organize a debate, the Conference of Presidents, which includes leaders of the eleven political groups, must validate the choice and place the item on the chamber’s agenda.
This is the second petition to reach the one-milestone mark on the platform, which was established in 2020 following the “Grand Debate” initiated after the Yellow Vest crisis. The only previous petition to surpass one million signatures was against the “Duplomb law,” which ultimately led to a chamber debate after gathering over two million signatures. Two other petitions that crossed the 500,000 threshold in April and July were dismissed, with the Laws Commission citing that debates would duplicate ongoing parliamentary examinations of related bills on antisemitism and the use of force by police.
The union +Libres de Canal, representing the Canal+ group which owns CNews, issued a statement on Friday expressing regret over the “deviations” of the channel. The owner of CNews is identified in the sources as French billionaire Vincent Bolloré. The petition’s growth has been fueled by increased visibility on social media accounts engaged against the far-right, marking a significant mobilization effort in the ongoing political discourse surrounding media influence in France.
