Twitter France tried in criminal court for failing to cooperate with justice, a first

According to the prosecutor’s office, this is a first in the history of France on charges of “refusing to respond to the prosecutor’s request”.

Twitter Inc lets French branch pay for it

An unprecedented decision to be made on March 21 at Yvelines. As a matter of fact, Twitter France and Damien Viel are on trial for “refusing to respond to the request” and “complicity in insulting the public”. The two defendants face fines of 3,750 euros and 75,000 euros, respectively, the maximum penalty prescribed by prosecutor Philippe Toccanier.

In the absence of Twitter Inc, Twitter is blaming France, what appears to be the mitigating path found by justice in a case stemming from blatant insults formulated on the social network against the governor of Yvelines. The latter was described as a “Nazi” by one user, adding that “we should hang him in Liberation.” Another user compares the police to “Pétain’s police”. So much for justice.

The Versailles prosecutor’s office, which has opened an investigation, wants to get data from Twitter France to find the authors of these tweets. However, the data would not be stored in France, but in Ireland, where Twitter Europe is headquartered. But according to the prosecutor, Twitter Inc would not have “intentionally” provided the requested information and Twitter would have done justice to France and Mr Viel. Will Twitter Inc cooperate with French justice? Given the firm’s obligations in this area, nothing is less certain.