A petition hosted on the French National Assembly’s website calling to “remove CNews from France’s audiovisual landscape” passed 600,000 authenticated signatures on Monday, November 2. The threshold could allow the issue to be debated in the Assembly, although no debate is guaranteed.
The petition was launched by a private individual in June and had gathered around 100,000 signatures as recently as the previous week. Its support increased sharply after the racist attack in Trappes and La Verrière on October 23.
The text describes CNews, a channel belonging to Vincent Bolloré’s media group, as a “propaganda machine” and compares it with the US network Fox News. It had exceeded 600,000 signatures by the end of Monday, after passing the 500,000 mark earlier in the day.
Under the National Assembly’s rules, a petition can lead to a debate in the chamber once it has collected more than 500,000 signatures from residents of at least 30 departments. However, a committee must first decide whether to archive the petition or examine it. A previous petition opposing a law on the presumed legitimate use of firearms by law enforcement reached the same threshold but was dismissed by members of the Assembly’s law committee in July.
La France Insoumise welcomed the petition’s performance and pledged to “dismantle” the media empire of the ultraconservative billionaire if it comes to power. Jérémie Patrier-Leitus, an Horizons MP and spokesperson for Édouard Philippe’s presidential campaign, responded: “In a democracy, we do not shut down media outlets.”
CNews declined to comment when contacted by Agence France-Presse. The Canal+ group channel is frequently accused of promoting far-right views and themes, allegations it rejects while saying it defends freedom of expression.
Criticism intensified after the Trappes and La Verrière attack. According to national anti-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen, the 39-year-old French suspect told police that he had targeted “people (...) of Muslim, African or North African appearance.” Some figures on the left, including Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh, have accused media outlets, particularly CNews, of contributing to the attack by giving excessive airtime to speeches stigmatizing immigrants.
In June, France’s audiovisual regulator formally ordered CNews to correct what it called a “manifest and lasting imbalance in the expression of different currents of thought and opinion,” particularly regarding claims about immigration and Islam as threats to society.
The channel has also faced other controversies in 2026, including the decision—later abandoned—to keep Jean-Marc Morandini on air despite final convictions for corruption of minors and sexual harassment. Media outlets linked to Bolloré, including CNews, Europe 1, JDD and JDNews, have also drawn government scrutiny over the airtime given to pro-Kremlin commentator Xenia Fedorova. She is no longer in France after authorities issued an expulsion order accusing her of relaying Russian disinformation campaigns intended to destabilize public order.
Sources: Le Monde.