PARIS, Jan. 3 -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday announced at the Elysee Palace that a bill to combat the spread of false news during the election period would be tabled.
On the occasion of expressing his wishes to the press, Macron said he wanted to "evolve the legal system to protect the democratic life," adding that the new law should impose "increased transparency obligations on all sponsored content in order to publicize the identity of the advertisers and those who control them, and to limit the amounts devoted to these contents. "
"In case of propagation of false news, we can ask a judge through a new action in summary if necessary to remove the content, to dereference the site, to close the user account concerned or to block the access to website, "he said.
"The powers of the regulator that will be redesigned in 2018 will be increased to fight against any attempt of destabilization by television controlled or influenced by foreign states," he added.