By Mason Mohon | FRANCE

Emmanuel Macron feels that he was the victim of misinformation during France’s previous election cycle, particularly from Russian news company RT. He holds the belief that they did not tell the truth about him and his beliefs, according to Reuters. They report that he has accused “TV channel RT of sowing disinformation about him via its website and social media during the campaign.”

This has prompted France’s president to entertain and take steps towards the idea of legislation in the media industry. Macron has stated that “If we want to protect liberal democracies, we must have strong legislation.” In his New Year’s address to journalists, we learned a lot, and a bit that we should be somewhat fearful about.

He specifically pointed out election times, where he said that “on internet platforms, the rules applying to content won’t be exactly the same.”

The intent he seems to be portraying is that with ‘fake news’ we cannot have a real election, so he needs to make sure that the media tells the truth. This is dangerous for obvious reasons.

Depending on what form this legislation will take, Macron could very well manipulate the next election cycle in his favor. Even under the guise of promotion of the truth, Macron could use this legislation for under the table deals where media begins to show things going in his favor.

It sets a dangerous precedent to have the state chooses what is true and what is not. This can easily turn the tides in favor of the government and puts the potential in place for them to get away with dangerous actions.