{"id":203348,"date":"2026-01-05T16:38:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/?p=203348"},"modified":"2026-01-05T16:57:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:57:04","slug":"france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/","title":{"rendered":"France debates democracy in social media and digital sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madrid, Jan 5 (EFE).- The debate initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron<\/strong> on democracy in social media and digital sovereignty has been taken up by local services, such as the literary and journalistic creation platform Panodyssey<\/strong>, with CEO Alexandre Leforestier<\/strong> defending an alternative internet based on \u201cthe democratic reappropriation of the digital space.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of 2025, Macron called for \u201calgorithm transparency\u201d on social media, because many are involved in \u201cpolitical battles,\u201d and cited as an example of \u201cinterference\u201d a Facebook<\/strong> post with millions of views that talked about a coup in France.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am in favor of free and open debate, but these people [social media] are mocking us, they don’t give a damn about the serenity of public debate, they mock the sovereignty of democracies and put us in danger,\u201d Macron warned from Marseille.<\/p>\n

Democracy in \u201cdigital spaces for sharing\u201d<\/h2>\n

In an interview with EFE, Leforestier recalled that France had a long tradition of \u201cdigital spaces for sharing,\u201d with the pioneering Minitel (computer-like terminals used to connect to forums and other services, which were hugely successful in France for years), and he supported the debate started by Macron.<\/p>\n

He stated that, in a public speech before the European Commission in 2019, he had highlighted a reconciliation between ethics and technology that would create an alternative, local digital ecosystem to the technological powers.<\/p>\n

In his opinion, public debate today has been \u201cconfiscated by American and Chinese private infrastructures whose business model is built on anger, extreme simplification, and the permanent competition of opinions,\u201d and they optimize debate for polarization, misinformation, and violence: \u201cIt’s their economic model.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this regard, he highlighted some of Panodyssey’s<\/a> features compared to other social media companies, such as the defense of copyright \u201cin the age of artificial intelligence<\/a>,\u201d the fight against misinformation, fake content, and cyberbullying<\/strong>, and technological and algorithmic transparency. All this is amidst one of the main objectives of the pan-European social network: \u201cThe renewed desire to read, write, and create on digital screens.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The democratic reappropriation of the digital space”<\/h2>\n

“In a world where public speech has become an algorithmic battlefield, Panodyssey<\/a> does not promise virality. It offers something better: the democratic reappropriation of the digital space,” he said.<\/p>\n

He has calculated that the long-form writing and reading solutions of the social network, which has collaborated with EFE in the publication of this content, is currently operating with 500,000 readers. The system is \u201cdesigned to scale to 500 million European users by 2030,\u201d demonstrating that \u201canother internet\u201d based on copyright, linguistic diversity, individual responsibility, and technological transparency \u201cis possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Panodyssey does not have algorithm-based personalized advertising for each user, \u201cthere is no technical incentive to push the most violent or simplistic content,\u201d and so \u201cthe very architecture of the platform defuses conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, as the texts show their authors (even if it is a pseudonym, there is a certificate of authenticity), harassment, toxic behavior, and misinformation are reduced, without the need for \u201cbrutal or opaque\u201d moderation.<\/p>\n

Posting on foreign social media<\/h2>\n

On the other hand, Leforestier has criticized those who proclaim themselves \u201cdefenders of the Republic, of French culture, or of digital sovereignty\u201d but \u201cspend their days\u201d posting on foreign social media: \u201cThey willingly hand over French public discourse, citizens\u2019 data, and the visibility of our creators to extra-European companies that respect neither our values, nor our laws, nor our strategic interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne cannot claim to defend freedom of expression in France while abandoning the infrastructures of democratic debate to foreign powers,\u201d he added. \u201cCultural and democratic sovereignty begins with the choice of the tools we use.\u201d EFE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madrid, Jan 5 (EFE).- The debate initiated by French President Emmanuel Macron on democracy in social media and digital sovereignty has been taken up by local services, such as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198164088,"featured_media":203349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123781],"tags":[127202],"class_list":["post-203348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","tag-panodyssey-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDebate on democracy in social media taken up by Panodyssey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The debate initiated by Macron on democracy in social media and digital sovereignty has been taken up by local services, such as Panodyssey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Debate on democracy in social media taken up by Panodyssey","description":"The debate initiated by Macron on democracy in social media and digital sovereignty has been taken up by local services, such as Panodyssey","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/"},"author":{"name":"aguilarpryde","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7abe8ae5b78103005aa6fc3aa39043dc"},"headline":"France debates democracy in social media and digital sovereignty","datePublished":"2026-01-05T15:38:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-05T15:57:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/"},"wordCount":606,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rss-efe6d49652e2a2518f93dc6cf11a2b6232541d19817w.jpg","keywords":["Panodyssey"],"articleSection":["Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/","name":"Debate on democracy in social media taken up by Panodyssey","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rss-efe6d49652e2a2518f93dc6cf11a2b6232541d19817w.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-05T15:38:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-05T15:57:04+00:00","description":"The debate initiated by Macron on democracy in social media and digital sovereignty has been taken up by local services, such as Panodyssey","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rss-efe6d49652e2a2518f93dc6cf11a2b6232541d19817w.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rss-efe6d49652e2a2518f93dc6cf11a2b6232541d19817w.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"BARCELONA, 19\/01\/2023. French President Emmanuel Macron in a file photo. EFE\/Andreu Dalmau\/FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/france-debates-democracy-in-social-media-and-digital-sovereignty\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"France debates democracy in social media and digital sovereignty"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/","name":"EFE Comunica","description":"Contenidos para empresas","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#organization","name":"EFE Comunica","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Logo-EFE-Comunica_png.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Logo-EFE-Comunica_png.png","width":1080,"height":486,"caption":"EFE Comunica"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EFEComunicaAgenciaEFE","https:\/\/x.com\/EFEcomunica","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/showcase\/efecomunica"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7abe8ae5b78103005aa6fc3aa39043dc","name":"aguilarpryde","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc3879243070edd092201ab8d238cddc5ac2a3918d02122b2109c89a8c180a0c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc3879243070edd092201ab8d238cddc5ac2a3918d02122b2109c89a8c180a0c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fc3879243070edd092201ab8d238cddc5ac2a3918d02122b2109c89a8c180a0c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"aguilarpryde"},"url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/author\/aguilarpryde\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rss-efe6d49652e2a2518f93dc6cf11a2b6232541d19817w.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcEg1r-QTO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198164088"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203348"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203359,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203348\/revisions\/203359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efecomunica.efe.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}