The National Assembly adopts at first reading a text to fight against foreign interference

On Wednesday March 27, the National Assembly adopted a proposed Renaissance law aimed at combating foreign interference. This text includes the creation of a national register of influence, the possibility of freezing financial assets and a controversial extension of an algorithmic surveillance system.

The text, which will go to the Senate, was adopted by 171 votes to 25, following sometimes very tense debates between the presidential camp and the oppositions, La France insoumise (LFI) and National Rally (RN) in the lead. The deputies Les Républicains, RN, ecologists, socialists and Liot (independents) voted in favor, despite the lack of ambition coming from the right and the far right, and concerns on the left about the risks of violations public freedoms. The rebels voted against and the communists abstained.

Experimentation of the monitoring device for four years

The key article of the text plans to expand an algorithmic surveillance system launched in 2015, intended to identify connection data on the internet, today limited to the fight against terrorism, with mixed effectiveness according to rapporteur Sacha Houlié. On the contrary, he believes that it will be more effective in detecting protocols followed by interference agents, taking the example of “a Chinese agent who arrives in France, reserves several hotels, cancels them, then re-books several and cancels them in turn”.

The text provides for a four-year experiment, during which the services could apply surveillance algorithms to the fight against interference. But left-wing elected officials are worried about its future sustainability. “You put in place tools for general surveillance of the population”accused Antoine Léaument (LFI).