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FACT CHECK: France to Cut the Internet Due to Riots?


Online reports indicated France would cut internet access due to nationwide riots devastating the country over the past several days.

Reports of an internet blackout in “specific neighborhoods,” starting Monday, have circulated like wildfire Sunday.

Here are a few examples:

From Midnight Rider:

France is planning a shutdown of the nation’s internet in an attempt to stop the world from seeing what invaders are doing to the nation.

In just the span of a few days, France has devolved into a middle eastern nation engulphed in war and its despot limiting news from reaching the outside world.

This is the circulating document, allegedly from the Ministry of the Interior in France, saying there’s an impending internet blackout.

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According to the document, “temporary restrictions will be applied to internet access in certain specific neighborhoods during night hours. These restrictions aim to prevent the misuse of social media and online platforms to coordinate illegal actions and incite violence.”

However, it appears this is a fake document.

The Ministry of the Interior and Overseas in France tweeted: “This document is a FALSE.”

“No decision has been made in this regard,” the tweet added.

The tweet reads:

“A press release from @PoliceNationale would announce temporary restrictions on internet access in certain districts. This document is a FALSE: no decision has been made in this regard.”

The Directorate-General of the National Police (DGPN) also reportedly said the press release saying internet access would be cut in “certain neighborhoods” was false.

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“We inform you that we have not written a press release announcing temporary restrictions on Internet access in certain neighborhoods, this is fake news,” the DGPN reportedly said.

It appears the circulating document has fooled many prominent accounts of Twitter.

“I hate it when I post fake stuff. Apologies for the Ministry of Interior tweet. I made the fatal error of not personally verifying with the government web site. School girl error,” Bernie’s Tweets said.

Could the internet be shut down at a later time?

Maybe.

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But it doesn’t appear that’s the case right now.

It appears there has been no such announcement about cutting internet services.

However, things could change in this drastically developing situation.

An internet blackout isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

This very well could be the future:

However, we’ll have to say fake news (for now).

We’ll provide updates as they become available. 



 

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