The high commissioner for the French territory of the Pacific, Louis Le Franc, announced on Wednesday, May 15 in Paris, that TikTok has been banned on the island of New Caledonia along with a series of measures to restore order, including deploying military personnel to protect strategic sites. The decision to block TikTok was made due to the circulation of hate messages and calls to violence on the platform. The unrest in New Caledonia, which has resulted in four deaths including a police officer, is a result of clashes between Kanak independence activists and a contested reform of the local electoral body.
The blockage of TikTok is permitted under the state of emergency that was put in place on Wednesday evening. This temporary measure enables the government to take exceptional actions and limit public freedoms in response to a particularly grave situation. It allows the prime minister to request the blocking of a public online communication service that incites or praises acts of terrorism. While there are other legal means to block applications or websites in the territory, the state of emergency provides the quickest regime for such actions.
The primary method used by French authorities to block access to a site or application is through the Domain Name System (DNS), which redirects users to the correct server when accessing a domain name. In the case of a blockage, operators are instructed to mislead their DNS and direct users to an incorrect address. This method is considered fragile as it can be circumvented on both computers and smartphones by changing DNS settings. The blockage in New Caledonia appears to only affect the mobile application of TikTok, as confirmed by the prime minister’s office.
This is the first time such a measure has been taken in France, and possibly in the European Union as a whole. There has not been a precedent for blocking social media platforms in this manner. While TikTok has not yet responded to the blockage, it has been criticized by various groups including supporters of the Kanak independence movement, human rights activists, and individuals within decolonial and pro-Russian movements. The measure has raised concerns about potential effects on freedom of speech and has sparked a debate on the role of the French state in imposing such restrictions.
The decision to ban TikTok in New Caledonia has raised questions about the impact of such measures on public discourse and the potential backlash it may create. Some have argued that the blockage could reinforce negative perceptions of the French state as oppressive and authoritarian. The use of the state of emergency to block a popular social media platform like TikTok highlights the complexities of managing public dissent and unrest in a digital age. It remains to be seen how this decision will be perceived by different stakeholders and whether it will lead to further tensions in the region.
