(Image Source: Christian Science Monitor)

BY JESSICA FLY

You’ve heard it before - even here at Newsy - Follow us on Twitter.
Well -- not anymore for traditional French media outlets.
A recent pronouncement from a French regulatory agency banned TV and radio stations from using the words ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter.’

Euronews: “Stations can still refer viewers to social network services but without naming them. But as one journalist said, with tweeter being an official verb, enforcing the rule could become more of a French farce.”

The ban has origins in a 1992 law on subversive advertising. Authorities say using Facebook and Twitter is a form of secret advertising that is prohibited under that law. With that decree, a writer for TechCrunch says, the Superior Audiovisual Council -- or CSA -- has won for now.

“Because there are clear winners online (and off) you sometimes just have to work with them, instead of creating archaic go-arounds...Judging by the ongoing popularity of these social networks...the CSA won’t be #winning for very much longer.”

Is there another motivation here?
One French blogger says the CSA is revolting against Anglo-Saxon domination

“French regulators would not, of course, readily admit that their ban on the words “Facebook” and “Twitter” was motivated by an institutionalised hostility towards Anglo-Saxon domination. They prefer to take refuge in legal explanations with reference, and deference, to French decrees and laws.”

How the media deals with the ban is the real question. After all, they’re social media giants - Twitter and Facebook aren’t going away.  A blogger on The Christian Science Monitor says this won’t be a smooth transition for France’s media.

“... media presenters will now have to perform awkward verbal gymnastics or “find circumlocutions” to describe simple references to Facebook or Twitter.”
 

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