The State now wants to monitor your every move on Google, TikTok and even Instagram. In any case, this is what reveals an article from the Informed regarding a call for tenders for the Government Information Service. The new contract, worth a maximum of 1.26 million euros per year (or 5.05 million over four years), represents a major development in the State’s digital monitoring strategy. While the previous system was content to monitor social networks, the new system will now integrate the monitoring of searches carried out by French people on the main search engines and platforms: Google in the lead, but also TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
This extension of the surveillance perimeter is accompanied by a sophistication of the tools used. Artificial intelligence will be used to analyze sentiments expressed online, predict potential events, and even automatically detect and describe the content of shared images. A technological leap that will allow the government to scrutinize digital public opinion more closely than ever.
Detection of “weak signals”, new government priority
This new system aims to detect emerging social movements earlier. Scalded by the surprise effect of the Yellow Vests in 2018 and the recent mobilizations in New Caledonia and Martinique, the State now wishes to be able to anticipate the “occurrence of critical events” like calls for rallies.
To do this, a specific lot of the call for tenders is dedicated to detection of “weak signals” : publications quickly gaining visibility, narratives spreading online, or even advertising operationsastroturfing (simulation of spontaneous movements via fake accounts). An approach which demonstrates a clear desire to anticipate and potentially prevent social movements even before they materialize in the streets.
Sufficient guarantees for individual freedoms?
If the GIS ensures that only public data will be analyzedthus excluding private content from Facebook groups or protected Instagram accounts, the question of the protection of individual freedoms remains unresolved. The service did not consider it necessary to contact the CNIL for an opinion, considering that the use of public data did not justify it.
The service providers who are selected (verdict expected on March 28) will certainly have to commit to respecting the GDPR, but the multiplication of monitored data sources and the use of predictive artificial intelligence pose new ethical questions. In a sensitive pre-electoral context, with the prospect of early legislative elections and the 2027 presidential election, the implementation of such surveillance tools risks raising eyebrows.
- State extends online surveillance to Google, TikTok and Instagram searches via €5.05 million contract
- Artificial intelligence will be used to detect emerging social movements and analyze online sentiment
- Although limited to public data, this system raises questions about respect for individual freedoms
