Élysée insists French president not advocating general blackout as ministers say rioters using platforms to organise violence
I’m not convinced at this point that Macron isn’t just secretly a pyrophile who gets off on watching people set the world on fire.
In the smouldering aftermath, some politicians, keen to shift the focus from social inequality, have muttered darkly about the role of BlackBerry Messenger, Twitter and Facebook – frightening new technologies that, like the pen and the human mouth, allow citizens to swap messages with one another. Some have even called for the likes of Twitter to be temporarily suspended in times of great national crisis. That’d be reassuring – like the scene at the start of a zombie movie where the news bulletin is suddenly replaced by a whistling tone and a stark caption reading PLEASE STAND BY. The last thing we need in an emergency is the ability to share information.
– Charlie Brooker on the 2011 London riots
