French President Emmanuel Macron said “free speech” is “pure bulls—” without guidelines in an attack on social media giants for failing to restrict access for younger users.
While speaking at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, Macron argued in favor of restrictions on artificial intelligence and social media.
During his speech, he called for more transparency from social media companies regarding their algorithms, claiming that there could be major democratic consequences if they did not.
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“All algorithms have biases,” Macron said. “We know that. They are so impactful, especially social media. Having no clue how the algorithm is made, tested, trained, and where it guides you — the democratic consequences of this bias could be huge. We don’t ask for regulation. We don’t ask for the IP. But you should make it transparent.”
He continued, “You are for free speech. Some of them claim to be in favor of free speech. We are in favor of free algorithms — totally transparent. Free speech is pure bulls— if nobody knows how you are guided through this so-called free speech — especially when it guides you from one hateful speech to another. I want a transparent road through these different speeches. I want public order. I want to avoid racist speech, hateful speech.”
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The French president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Macron has been championing social media bans for children. Last month, French lawmakers passed a bill to ban social media for children under 15 and ban mobile phones in high schools. The bill now heads to the Senate for debate before a final vote, which Macron hopes will occur before the beginning of the new school year in September.
“Banning social media for those under 15: this is what scientists recommend, and this is what the French people are overwhelmingly calling for,” Macron said. “Because our children’s brains are not for sale — neither to American platforms nor to Chinese networks. Because their dreams must not be dictated by algorithms.”
The Trump administration has long criticized what it’s called “digital censorship” in Europe.
“For years we’ve been told that everything we fund and support is in the name of our shared democratic values,” Vice President JD Vance said in a Munich speech in 2025.
“Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a defense of democracy,” he continued. “But when we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard.”
