FRENCH TV and radio stations can tweet as much as they like but must stop telling people to consult them on Twitter and Facebook, which amounts to advertising for those sites, France’s media regulator says.
Media usage of mini-messaging via social networking sites has mushroomed with France’s coverage of the arrest of former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York on attempted rape charges.
The media industry regulator is warning that such covert advertising is against the law. “You cannot say ‘look us up on Facebook’ or ‘look us up on Twitter’. What we advise people to say is: ‘Look us up on the social networks’ – because Facebook and Twitter are commercial brands,” said spokeswoman Christine Kelly.
Ms Kelly, a former journalist, has explained in several radio interviews this week that covert advertising – visible or audible references to branded products outside of dedicated advertising periods – has been banned in France since 1992. She said radio and TV stations that refer audiences to Twitter and Facebook by name are breaching that law and risk fines if they fail to comply.
They should tell people to check social networking pages, without referring by name to the two giants in that domain, she said.
The warning comes as one of France’s most widely consulted dictionaries released a new edition that includes the word “tweet” for the first time.
In the days after the arrest of Mr Strauss-Kahn, the media regulator took TV stations to task for broadcasting images of him being escorted handcuffed to a courthouse.Such images cannot be broadcast in France ahead of a guilty verdict. – (Reuters)