While the first round of the presidential elections has just delivered its verdict, Éric Zemmour is today the subject of an investigation by the CNIL. Several voters of the Jewish faith indeed accuse the former far-right candidate of having sent them an SMS specifically addressed to them. In other words, the latter targeted part of his campaign solely according to the religion of the voters, which is strictly prohibited.
The day after the first round of the 2022 presidential elections, the shower is cold for Éric Zemmour. With 7.1% of votes, the far-right candidate is far from having obtained the score that the polls have promised him for months, despite his aggressive campaign. Indeed, his team did not hesitate to let messages on the answering machine voters, or to collect their email address through petitions requiring registration. frontal methods, borderline illegalsometimes going so far as to cross the line.
On the evening of April 8, several thousand French people received an SMS from the candidate. The first sentence sets the tone. “Message from Éric Zemmour to French people of the Jewish faith. » Éric Zemmour claims to have written a text specifically for this community. By clicking on the link, recipients are redirected to a page edited by the Reconquest party. Above, there is a text actually addressed to French people of the Jewish faith, which tries to find a leader with growing anti-Semitism in the country. Unsurprisingly, according to him, these are “scum” and Islamist terrorists.
Éric Zemmour targets the Jewish community during his campaign
That Éric Zemmour succeeds once again in accusing Muslims of all evils is therefore, unfortunately, not an event in itself. What is more, is that the law formally prohibits candidates from canvass voters solely on the basis of their religion. However, this does not prevent his campaign team from confirming that they were behind the operation. She even informs our colleagues from BFM TV to have used a broker to access the database.
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The latter was thus ordered to provide a list of sensitive people to the “subject of anti-Semitism in France and Europe” based on data collected through their internet activity. If Eric Zemmour’s team does not therefore hide having sent its SMS, it defends itself, on the other hand, officially, from having targeted recipients only according to their religion.
Following receipt of this SMS, many of them then send a report to the CNIL. This morning, the organization confirms that it has opened an investigation against Éric Zemmour. “If there was a database of French people of the Jewish faith used in this context, it would be totally illegal” emphasizes Me Alexandre Archambault, lawyer specializing in digital law.
The CNIL opens an investigation, Éric Zmmour risks a fine of 20 million euros
Therefore, the former far-right candidate risks a fine of 20 million eurosas well as 5 years in prison. In 2017, Emmanuel Macron was also pinned following a cold call deemed too insistent. Moreover, Éric Zemmour and his team are not the only culprits in this case. The platforms that have collected the data of Jewish users are in theory obliged to warn the persons concerned in order to to obtain their consent.
“All the people who received this SMS must normally have given their agreement to be contacted by Éric Zemmour’s team insofar as it is a specific purpose”, recalls Me Oriana Labruyère. On his side, the candidate’s campaign team claims to have obtained this agreement.
Note that the Jewish community was not the only target of Éric Zemmour’s campaign. Its teams also directly contacted several members of the catholic community through a mail. During this operation, they would have based this time on the interest of the latter for the fate of the Notre-Dame-de-Paris cathedral.
Source : BFM
