Is the surprising campaign clip by Dieudonné and Francis Lalanne legal?

The controversial comedian and the singer are candidates for the 2024 European elections for the “France Libre” list. Their campaign clip is controversial. What does Arcom say?

On Monday May 27, the official campaign for the European elections began in France. Speaking time, posters and propaganda clips are subject to strict rules until June 9, election day. The video broadcast for the “France Libre” list featuring the polemicist Dieudonné and the singer Francis Lalanne provokes the indignation of many Internet users and commentators. It is Arcom, the audiovisual policeman, who supervises these campaign clips.

“Hello, let me introduce myself: Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, prison number 18759”, This is how the parody-like video begins. It shows the controversial comedian and his singing accomplice sitting at a table in a prison cell setting. “I am under house arrest”specifies Dieudonné showing off his electronic ankle bracelet. “Like all French women and all French menadds Francis Lalanne. Sanitary prisoners, intellectual prisoners…” The duo then proposes “a great collective escape” with “all those who are still freedom-loving in France (…) pto get out of this pit of shit that is Europe.”

In the same way as the spots on the 37 other lists, the video by Dieudonné and Francis Lalanne is broadcast on television and radio. It was even recorded and produced by France Télévisions within a framework set by Arcom and detailed in the Official Journal from April 25.

The Audiovisual Communication Regulatory Authority specifies that “the speakers express themselves freely” as long as they do not harm public order or the security of people and property, as long as they do not make comments prohibited and punishable by law or which harm the dignity of the human person, the honor and consideration of others.

It is also Arcom which validates their broadcast and draws their order of passage. The campaign clip from the “France Libre” list has therefore passed the authority’s checks regarding the comments made by the candidates.

The duration of campaign clips is limited to one minute and thirty seconds. An allotted time respected by Dieudonné and Francis Lalanne since their video lasts one minute and seventeen seconds. The allocated means of production are identical for each list. Candidates can produce their spot on their own or use France Télévisions teams and in premises made available to them. In this case, a coordinator takes care of organizing the dates, times and locations of filming. Recording and post-production times are constrained and identical.

Videos must be “fully subtitled for deaf or hard of hearing people. Their broadcast is also accompanied by a translation into sign language overlaid on the screen”, specifies Arcom in the Official Journal. This is indeed the case for the video on the “France Libre” list.