France to crack down on online posts

PARIS: France said on Friday it would crack down on social media posts that put people in danger by divulging their personal details, a week after the murder of a teacher targeted in an online campaign.Samuel Paty was killed by 18-year-old Chechen Abdullakh Anzorov last Friday.

In the run-up to the murder, the parent of one of Paty’s students and a known Islamist had run a social media campaign against the teacher. Prosecutors said their posts contained the teacher’s name as well as the address of the school, allowing his killer to find him.

Both have been charged with complicity in a terrorist murder. Castex said a pending draft law defending secular values against Islam -- known as an anti-separatism law -- would now be amended to allow the prosecution of anybody who posts personal details online if this "threatens the life of another".

Castex said he would submit the additions to the French cabinet in December. Once voted into law, the provision will allow "the punishment of those who post personal information, thus threatening the life of a person, for example a teacher", Castex said after Friday’s session of the French defence council.