Paul Midy wants to fight against “this feeling of anonymity on social networks which generates a feeling of impunity”. Technical solutions “exist”, assures the MP who intends to make the digital giants “move”.
“Yes to pseudonymity, and no to anonymity”, pleaded Tuesday, September 19 on franceinfo Paul Midy, Renaissance deputy for Essonne and general rapporteur of the special commission on the bill on the security and regulation of the digital space which is presented Tuesday, September 19 to the Assembly national. This debate comes at a time when several cases of school harassment on social networks have led the Minister of Education, Gabriel Attal, to mobilize academy rectors.
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franceinfo: You have tabled several amendments to put an end to the anonymity of harassers who are often hidden behind pseudonyms. What do you propose ?
Paul Midy : On social networks, there is racism, misogyny, LGBT-phobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia on all levels. The level of violence is much stronger than in physical life. Because there is this feeling of anonymity on social networks which generates a feeling of impunity and which means that there are no more limits. What do we have to do ? We must apply the rules we have in physical life to the digital space, that is to say, to social networks. The principle is: yes to pseudonymity, and no to anonymity.
I take three examples from concrete life. When I’m in the street, I don’t have to put my name on my jacket. I have the right to pseudonymity. But if the police arrest me, I must provide my identity. When I’m in a car on public roads, I also don’t have to put my name on the car. I have the right to pseudonymity. But I cannot drive on public roads in a car that does not have a license plate that allows the authorities to identify who it belongs to. Third example: when I have a telephone line, I have a telephone number, it does not have my name in it. On the other hand, when I create my telephone line, I give my identity card. And so I am not anonymous.
That “the authorities can find out who is the natural person behind the account on social networks in an extremely supervised manner.”
Obviously, if you create an account on Facebook, you must have a pseudonym. If I want to call it Paulo 91 and put a photo of my cat, I must have every right to do so. But my account must be associated with a digital identity so that, if with this account I do things that are illegal, the authorities can find out who is the natural person behind the account on social networks in an extremely controlled way.
How, technically, can you implement it?
It’s very simple, the solutions exist. For example, you have France Identity which exists or the digital identity of the Post Office. When creating an account, it is enough for Facebook to make the link with France Identity. And France Identity only returns two pieces of information: there is indeed a natural person behind this account and here is the indecipherable code that Facebook is asked to associate with the social network account, which Facebook cannot decipher but which the authorities can decipher. if you do illegal things with your social media account. Because we don’t want Facebook to have your ID card. I don’t want Facebook to have the identity card of all French people. I just want them to have an encrypted code, which they themselves cannot read, but which the authorities can read in a very specific context, like the car registration system.
To do this, you must have the approval of these Internet giants. Is it easy to get it?
The digital giants, we make them move with the law. So today, we are launching a debate in the National Assembly. But obviously, to have the most impact on international platforms, we must also do this at the level of the European Union. It is the strength of the European Union to be able to impose this on large international platforms.
But aren’t we still undermining freedom of expression?
I certainly don’t want to touch a finger of freedom of expression and our individual freedoms. They are extremely important. It is the foundation of our democracy. But on the other hand, we must not generate, as we do with social networks today, this feeling of anonymity which creates a feeling of impunity and which generates violence. We can express ourselves in the physical world, we have plenty of ways to express ourselves in the physical world. This is why everyone must be able to use a pseudonym. But if I ever do something illegal and reprehensible, the authorities should be able to identify me very easily.