A direct attack on video games: That was President Emmanuel Macron’s approach on Thursday, February 5, in an interview with Brut. “The violence taking root among the youngest people in society is also linked to the fact that children and teenagers are much more exposed to violence in videos they watch on social media or in the video games they play,” said the president.
Video games “where you shoot everyone, including Fortnite, that’s not real life, because it distorts the perception of violence,” continued Macron, referencing an online game that is hugely popular among children and teenagers. “When you spend five or six hours a day killing people (…) it conditions young people (…) it will completely disinhibit them and sometimes make them commit the worst acts.”
While Macron nevertheless emphasized that not “everything should be lumped together” and that some uses of video games were “good,” he announced that he had tasked “experts and the National Digital Council” with “work” to “try to scientifically measure the effect” of video games “on children and teenagers.” Depending on the findings of this commission, which is expected to run for two months, “perhaps we will need to ban them, nothing should be ruled out” in order to “protect our children and teenagers.”
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