French President Emmanuel Macron has been warned about using his main Twitter account for both official functions and promoting his bid for the elections in April.
The incumbent president posted his “letter to the people of France” on his main account, in which he declared his candidacy and outlined his main priorities.
Following the warning by France’s election commission set up to ensure the fairness of candidates’ campaigns, the president’s team deleted the letter from his main page. They also later removed it from his Facebook page.
In a general cleanup of his social media accounts, his photos and biographies were also altered to remove overt campaigning. The Commission did not mention the president's other social media channels, such as his Instagram and TikTok accounts.
Mr Macron has a second Twitter account that he is using principally for campaigning, under the name Emmanuel Macron avec vous, @avecvous.
His main Twitter account previously stated in the biography section, “to follow the latest on my campaign, go to @avecvous”. It has now been changed to say, “candidate for a second mandate @avecvous”.
Mr Macron’s main Twitter account has over 7.9 million followers, compared to his campaign-focused account that has only around 18,300.
Emmanuel Macron's main Twitter account has been altered to meet guidelines on election fairness Pic: Screenshot / Twitter / @EmmanuelMacron
The election commission, called the Commission nationale de contrôle de la campagne électorale en vue de l’élection présidentielle (CNCCEP), put out a general warning to candidates not to mix their public functions with campaigning on their social media accounts.
This warning could also be directed at Les Républicains’ election candidate Valérie Pécresse, who is also the Présidente du Conseil régional d'Île-de-France, and Parti socialiste candidate Anne Hidalgo, who is also the mayor of Paris.
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These two candidates have been using their main social media accounts to promote their presidential campaign, and have not altered them yet, Le Parisien reported.
The first round of France’s presidential election takes place on April 10. There are 12 candidates in the mix.
