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At 7 a.m. on 22 December 2017, the TV channel Canal Plus broadcast a programme about Togo, explaining in particular that this African state, in which Vincent Bolloré, the channel’s owner at the time, has numerous interests, has “modern infrastructure” and “an ambitious development policy that encourages investment from all over the world”. The programme, which was just under seven minutes long and resembled an “infomercial”, had not been listed in the schedule and did not contain any opening or closing credits. Viewers were therefore uninformed about its nature or its purpose. As a result, the...

Discussions have been ongoing for the past few months between French television Canal+ and the country’s film-industry professional organisations regarding the channel’s future investment in French films. Canal+, the leading player in financing for French cinema (EUR 160 million 2017), has the benefit of exclusive “exploitation windows” in respect of the works that it pre-finances. After talks broke down a few weeks ago, an agreement hailed by the Ministry of Culture as “very positive for the entire branch” was finally reached on 6 November 2018. The provisions of the agreement include the renewal...

On 20 November 2018, having been firmly rejected twice by the Senate, draft ordinary and organic laws on the fight against the manipulation of information have been adopted following the final reading by the National Assembly. Under the new law, an emergency procedure can be used to stop the dissemination, during election campaigns, of “inaccurate or misleading allegations or statements likely to affect the sincerity of the vote” when they are “disseminated on a massive scale in a deliberate, artificial or automated manner via an online public communication service”. Digital platforms are also...

On 26 November 2018, the EU Commission initiated proceedings for infringement of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union against 17 member states for non-compliance with the Directive requiring the transposition into national law of the Marrakesh Treaty (Directive (EU) 2017/1564) (see IRIS 2017-9/4 and IRIS 2016-9/4). The Marrakesh Treaty is a WIPO-administered convention that was signed on 27 June 2013 and entered into force on 30 September 2016, after the first 20 ratifications. The Treaty facilitates access to print works in formats adapted for persons who are blind, visually impaired...

On 4 October, French Member of Parliament Aurore Bergé submitted to the National Assembly forty proposals for “a new regulation on audiovisual communication in the digital era”. The proposals are the result of a fact-finding mission conducted since February by MPs on the Cultural Affairs Committee. The first major section of the report is devoted to combating piracy. It proposes that the competence to impose fines be given to the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Œuvres et la Protection de la Création sur Internet (High Authority for the Broadcasting of Works and the Protection of rights on...