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A claim is circulating online that France is entering an “era of total traceability”, amid allegations that the country’s digital ID — France Identité — will be directly tied to personal social media accounts.
France Identité is an app that enables users to create a digital identity based on the new form of the French ID card, allowing people to prove their identity both online and offline. It’s optional and is not intended to replace the physical ID card.
Various other European countries also have digital ID systems, such as Denmark, Estonia and Spain, whereas others, such as Germany and the Netherlands, are planning to bring them in or participate in the EU’s Digital Identity Wallet scheme.
A digital ID serves various functions, including accessing public services, signing digital documents and online banking.
Yet a post on X alleges that a new French measure will link digital IDs with users’ social media accounts, allowing authorities to, in theory, fight against “bad actors” — but that unofficially, it would be one more step towards a society where words and opinions are policed.
It attaches a video of Paul Midy — a member of the French parliament and of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party — giving an interview in which he says the measure would prevent complete anonymity online to help tackle impunity for online harassment and other illegality.
However, the caption is wrong: while French MPs did consider linking the digital ID to citizens’ social media, these proposals were rejected, and the country is not currently poised to introduce the measure.
The idea first emerged in 2023, as part of the discussion on the “loi visant à sécuriser et à réguler l’espace numérique” (the law aimed at securing and regulating the digital space), or SREN law.
At the time, Midy and others tabled an amendment that would have required a certification by a state-approved third party, such as the digital ID, when creating accounts on social media.
People could still have had an online pseudonym and profile picture that wasn’t of them, but the government would have been able to track them down in the case of any potential wrongdoing, due to the account’s link to the digital ID.
The video of Midy attached to the social media post and his comments are indeed real. However, they were taken from an interview with French radio station RTL, conducted around the time politicians were discussing the proposed amendment.
The Cube found that the video was first posted to YouTube on 19 September 2023.
Ultimately, the amendment faced fierce opposition related to its alleged breach of GDPR regulations and the right to freedom of expression, and was withdrawn.
The final law came into force in May 2024, without the measure forcing people to link their digital IDs with their social media accounts.
As things stand, the digital ID can be used to verify someone’s age when creating a social media account, for example, but citizens are not required to do so, and the digital ID is not automatically connected to their accounts.
Digital IDs in general are often the subject of misleading narratives online. The Cube previously debunked claims that the EU’s digital wallet was a cover to allow Brussels to strip away citizens’ privacy and exert control over their lives, for example.
Then, independent experts clarified that the aim of the initiative is actually to hand greater privacy and control to the user, not take it away.
The arm of the French government responsible for France Identité did not immediately respond to a request for comment.