PARIS | The French government has teamed up with the social network Snapchat to “encourage young people” to vote in the presidential election on April 10 and 24, through applications based in particular on augmented reality, they announced in a press release on Thursday. common.
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Concretely, creators with a large audience will “pass messages” to the 24.2 million monthly active users of the social network in France to encourage “younger generations” to go to the polls, and understand the issues of voting, while polling institutes predict a high level of abstention.
In addition to the implementation of a “filter” dedicated to the power of attorney which links to the government site, Snapchat will put its other functionalities such as “bitmojis” (small 3D characters, supposed to be in the image of the user) to colors of France.
A countdown, an automatic reminder message and an augmented reality ballot box will also be deployed for the second round of the election on April 24.
“This type of partnership in complete rupture with traditional institutional codes is a choice assumed and claimed in line with the modernization of government communication that we are carrying out to reach the new ultra-connected generation but often far from voting”, explained Michael Nathan, director of the government information service, quoted in the press release.
“Our goal is to invest our entire platform with awareness campaigns and educational tools in order to encourage a generation that grew up on mobile devices to engage,” said Sarah Bouchahoua, manager. public affairs France of Snapchat.
The election, which involves 12 candidates, is struggling to interest voters: some 30% of French people could abstain on April 10, a record level for a first round of presidential elections since 1958, according to an Ipsos SopraSteria poll published on Sunday.
Faced with a split left and a sluggish right, the polls suggest a qualification in the first round of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron and the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, as in 2017.
Mr. Macron is given the winner in the second round, even if the gap has narrowed significantly with his rival in the latest opinion polls.