France's four mobile operators – Orange, SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom – received a letter dated Oct. 22 from Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu asking them to prepare to block Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram for several hours on Oct. 24 and 25, according to the website Blast [1][2].
The request was made in case of a repeat of urban violence the previous week, the report stated. X was added to the platforms later. The block did not occur, and the Prime Minister's office declined to comment, according to the report [1].
The letter, as described by Blast, framed the preparation as a contingency rather than a final order [2]. The disclosure offers a rare view of how the French government weighed shutting down major social platforms during a period of heightened public order concern.
The prime minister's office declined to comment on the letter or on the planning that followed, the report stated. The operators also did not publicly discuss the request at the time.
Letter Outlined DNS Filtering and Temporary Suspension
The letter proposed using DNS filtering at about 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, to stop domain names from resolving, according to Blast. Lecornu wrote that operators should anticipate technical work so that "if I give the instruction" they could "proceed without delay with the temporary suspension of the services concerned, for a period of a few hours." DNS filtering works by preventing a device from translating a web address into the numerical address needed to reach a site.
The letter said the decision would be made "on the weekend of October 24 and 25, depending on the operational context" and cited social networks' role in the Oct. 17-18 protests, including "the organization of looting, exchanges about targets, the movement of groups or the positions of law enforcement." Lecornu asked operators to maintain confidentiality and described the measure as "only exploratory in nature" at that stage, according to the report.
The reference to DNS filtering indicated the government was considering a network-level intervention that would not require the platforms themselves to remove content or suspend accounts. The letter did not describe how the filtering would be scoped geographically or whether it would apply to fixed and mobile networks alike, according to Blast's account.
Operators Cited Technical Limits and Legal Concerns
A 70-minute videoconference the following day included the government's general secretariat, the Prime Minister's office, the Directorate General for Enterprises and legal representatives of the four operators, according to the report. The government wanted the block limited to mobile networks and certain areas, but operators said they could not do that at such short notice. They also said users could circumvent the block with a VPN or another messaging app and that they could not guarantee it would work.
Lawyers for the operators objected to the national scope, questioned the necessity and proportionality of shutting down three platforms for up to 12 hours, and asked whether milder measures had been considered, the report stated. Operators sought a signed, dated and published act, with Orange insisting on a formal order, while the government wanted private instructions to each company with nothing published in the official journal. A press release was to be issued 30 minutes before any block.
The exchange highlighted a tension between the government's desire for speed and the operators' insistence on a clear legal basis. The operators' lawyers raised the question of whether less restrictive alternatives had been assessed before a nationwide suspension of the platforms was contemplated, according to Blast.
Protests Proceeded as Court Ruling Set Conditions
On Saturday, protests against the rising cost of living brought 410,000 people onto the streets according to the Interior Ministry and 800,000 according to the CGT union, the report stated. About 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed and nearly 1,000 people were arrested, according to the report. The social media block that had been prepared was not carried out.
The Council of State, France's highest administrative court, ruled on April 1, 2025, that the May 2024 TikTok block in New Caledonia was illegal because it caused "a disproportionate infringement of the rights and freedoms" of those who challenged it. The court said such a shutdown affects "freedom of expression, free communication of thoughts and opinions, the right to private and family life" and can be allowed only in exceptional circumstances, when indispensable, when no less invasive measure can be implemented immediately and only for as long as needed to find an alternative.
The ruling established a legal framework that any future platform block would have to satisfy. It did not categorically prohibit shutdowns, but it set a high bar: exceptional circumstances, indispensability, the absence of a less invasive immediate alternative and strict time limits. The decision gave operators and courts a reference point for assessing the Oct. 24-25 proposal.
Officials Signal Possible Future Restrictions
Gabriel Attal, now the 2027 presidential candidate for Renaissance, told RTL on Oct. 19 that he wanted "a temporary, targeted block on the territories where the riots take place" and wrote on X that during riots authorities "must be able to temporarily and selectively block access to certain platforms to stop the herd effect." When reminded that the state had been condemned for the TikTok block, Attal said: "Temporarily. The State Council said that social networks could be blocked."
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said this week that "social networks are becoming a real problem" and that the Council of State's 2025 ruling "is something that has obviously not escaped me," according to the report. Digital Minister Anne Le Hénanff called in representatives of Discord, Meta, Google, Snapchat, TikTok and X to urge removal of content the government considers inciting violence.
Separately, Salon-de-Provence Mayor Nicolas Isnard proposed limiting minors' social media access for limited periods, and lawyer Jonathan Elkaim asked whether depriving everyone of a communication service for a tiny minority was proportionate, according to the report. The offline messenger app Bitchat rose to the top of France's App Store social category, the report stated.
Conclusion
The plan was not carried out on Oct. 24-25, but the report stated that it had been prepared, timed and staffed, with operators putting staff on call over the weekend. The letter, the videoconference and the operators' legal objections show that the government took concrete steps toward a temporary shutdown even though it ultimately did not order one. Ultimately, the report said the concern is that the government may seek a block at future protests.
References
- France Prepared to Block Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram During Protests. https://reclaimthenet.org/france-snapchat-tiktok-instagram-block-protests
- Information exclusive Blast?: Le premier ministre a préparé la coupure des réseaux sociaux pour le 24 octobre. https://www.blast-info.fr/articles/2026/information-exclusive-blast-le-premier-ministre-a-prepare-la-coupure-des-reseaux-sociaux-pour-le-24-octobre-9D8cgrU5S5iiW14Sb9nMzQ
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