Macron meets regional newspaper readers to discuss impact of social media

French President Emmanuel Macron met readers of the Ebra newspaper group in Mirecourt of France, for a discussion on how social media and algorithms are reshaping public debate.

The event is part of a wider tour of regional press audiences, following earlier meetings in Toulouse and Arras. Macron said he would “undoubtedly” extend the existing mobile-phone ban in middle schools to all secondary schools at the start of the next academic year.

Responding to a woman who described being harassed online with AI-altered images shared by a colleague despite his prior conviction, Macron noted that he had faced similar abuse himself — and that his wife, had experienced it “even more so.”