The suspension was noted between Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon. In the midst of the lawyers’ strike, this profile is very active in the movement against pension reform.
“I am extremely shocked”, launches Estellia Araez, president of the French Lawyers’ Union (SAF), to franceinfo. The union’s Twitter account was suspended Monday evening, February 17. “I noticed the suspension around 11 pm”, specifies the lawyer. It was finally restored the next day, at the beginning of the afternoon.
It is through this profile that the lawyers, on strike for seven weeks, relay their opposition to the pension reform, debated from this week in the National Assembly. They are protesting against the project of a future universal system, which would lead to a decline in pensions and the doubling, in some cases, of the pension contributions of lawyers.
Tweets against pension reform
SAF quickly suspected that this suspension was linked to its challenge, on the social network, of the pension reform. For several days, the trade union has been using its profile to challenge the deputies of La République en Marche. About twenty parliamentarians from the majority were contacted, according to the president of the SAF, each time with an identical message: “Are you going to vote for the pension reform which no longer has anything universal and will suffocate lawyers in particular? [ceux] working at[aide juridictionnelle], and therefore prevent access to the law of the popular classes? ” A question also taken up by the local sections of the union.
“If it is in connection with the interpellation in number of certain LREM deputies, we are quite astonished”, indicated the president of the union, Tuesday morning. “I hope these are not reports from some deputies. If it’s [le cas], it is extremely serious ”, was initially worried Estellia Araez. A hypothesis swept aside from the outset by the “walking” deputies. “I can’t imagine for a second that this is the case”, said Aurore Bergé, spokesperson for LREM, Tuesday morning, interviewed by franceinfo
Twitter questioned by the union
For the union, another explanation is plausible: how the Twitter algorithm works. The repeated sending of identical messages can potentially be considered by the social network as spam. In its regulations, Twitter indicates that “most of the accounts we suspend are spam accounts, or just fake accounts ”. “If an algorithm can do this without warning, without having to explain the motive, it’s serious for freedom of expression”, gets carried away EstelliaAraez.
After the account was restored, Tuesday around 1 p.m., the union had confirmation that it was indeed the sending of these identical messages that was at the origin of this suspension. In a letter to the union, Twitter justifies this decision by “Repeatedly posting identical tweets”.
A form of “censorship”
Bringing the account back online did not calm the union’s outrage. “It remains very problematic, even if it was restored in 12 hours”, comments the president of the union. In a press release, the SAF denounces “A particularly serious attack on freedom of expression and freedom of association”, adding that she “Illustrates the dangers of automated censorship mechanisms”.
On Twitter, the temporary closure of the profile had triggered many reactions. Several Internet users have drawn the parallel between this event and, conversely, the maintenance of the account of the former deputy LREM, Agnès Cerighelli, some recent tweets of which were reported to the public prosecutor for “incitement to hatred”.
“There are really two weights, two measures”, comments the president of the union. “I hope Twitter will change its rules, which are particularly vague. They leave the power to the social network to choose, without defined criteria, what can be suspended ”, considers the president of the union.
The organization considers in its press release that it is a form of “censure”, particularly serious in the midst of the lawyers’ strike. “This questions us about the way we can communicate about our actions”, worries lawyer Virginie Marques, an active member of the SAF, interviewed by franceinfo. It also remains that the account has lost all its subscribers, while it had more than 7,000 before its suspension on Monday evening.
