Editorial: Le Monde

• Bolloré's press launched an attack against Emmanuel Macron following his proposal to 'label' sites and networks producing information based on ethical rules, to distinguish them from propagators of fake news.
• Media owned by Bolloré, extreme right and part of the right condemned this as a 'liberticidal drift' and an threat to 'free speech'.
• Macron denies speaking of a 'state label' and clarifies that he does not intend to 'create any label', much less a 'ministry of truth'.
• In 2018, Macron suggested a law to combat misinformation during elections after experiencing false propaganda from Russian media (RT and Sputnik) during his campaign.
• Macron, in his role as head of state, making his own recommendations, runs the risk of being suspected of having conflicts of interest as he himself is a political actor.
• Since 2017, Macron has attempted to select the journalists covering his trips and has limited access to reporters, like no other president before.

Conclusion: While Macron may not seem the right mediator to initiate this debate, he raises serious questions about media reliability and the spread of fake news ahead of the presidential elections. Education and the cultivation of critical thinking may be more effective in the fight against fake news than any institutional 'label'.

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