Glossary
Every underlined term in our stories is explained here. Entries only say what their sources support, and list those sources; 41 entries. 中文版字典 →
Social platforms
- Bluesky
- An American microblogging service run by the public-benefit corporation Bluesky Social PBC.
- HFRHardWare.fr / forum.hardware.fr
- The forum of HardWare.fr, a French computer-hardware site launched in 1997. The site stopped publishing in 2018; only the forum is still running.
- jeuxvideo.comJeuxvideo.com (called JV since 2021)
- A French video-game website founded in 1997, now owned by Webedia. Its "Blabla 18-25 ans" board is an anonymous general chat forum that discusses far more than games.
- Lemmy
- Free, open-source forum software similar to Reddit, run on independent servers that talk to each other via ActivityPub. jlai.lu is a French-language instance.
- Mastodon
- Free, open-source decentralised microblogging software: many independently run servers that communicate through ActivityPub, part of the "Fediverse".
- r/france
- Reddit's French-language general forum; Reddit ranks posts by users' votes and each board is run by volunteer moderators.
- TikTok
- A Chinese-developed short-video platform; the first call for the 17 October protest came from a TikTok video.
- X (formerly Twitter)X, formerly Twitter
- An American microblogging and social network, one of the largest in the world; users can add context to posts through Community Notes.
Parties and people
- Emmanuel Macron
- President of France since 14 May 2017, born in 1977. He cannot run in 2027 because of the two-term limit.
- Jean-Luc Mélenchon
- French left-wing politician born in 1951 in Tangier, Morocco; founder and leading figure of La France insoumise.
- Jordan Bardella
- French politician born in 1995, president of the far-right Rassemblement national (RN) since 2021.
- La France insoumise (LFI)La France insoumise
- A French left-wing party founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2016, usually classed as radical left and sometimes as far left; eco-socialist and anti-capitalist.
- Laurent Nuñez
- French interior minister, born in 1964, a former Paris police prefect. He offered to resign after the 17 October policing failures; Macron refused.
- Marine Le Pen
- French politician born in 1968, the leading figure of the far-right Front national, renamed Rassemblement national; she led the party from 2011 to 2021.
- Rassemblement national (RN)Rassemblement national
- The French far-right party, founded in 1972 as the Front national and renamed in 2018; led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
- Sébastien Lecornu
- Prime Minister of France since 9 September 2025, born in 1986. After the riots he blamed part of the violence on the far left and La France insoumise.
Media and institutions
- 20 Minutes
- A general news outlet with editions in France, Spain and Switzerland; its 20 October report cited an analysis of seven platforms by Agoratlas and Visibrain.
- Agoratlas
- A French social-media analysis firm. Before the 17 October protests it analysed, with Visibrain, about 110,000 French-language posts on seven platforms.
- AttacAssociation pour la taxation des transactions financières et pour l'action citoyenne
- An alter-globalisation association founded in France in 1998, campaigning for taxes on financial transactions; it is present in 40 countries.
- BBC Verify
- The BBC's verification team, launched in 2023, which checks images, data and claims circulating online.
- BFMTVBFM TV
- A private French 24-hour news channel launched in 2005, part of the RMC BFM group controlled by CMA Média.
- CGTConfédération générale du travail
- Confédération générale du travail, a French union confederation founded in 1895; the largest union in the public sector and the second largest in the private sector.
- Clubic
- A French technology news site, owned by M6 from 2008 to 2018, independent afterwards, and bought by the EBRA group in January 2026.
- franceinfoFrance Info
- France's public-service news brand launched in 2016 by France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and INA, covering radio, TV, web and app.
- French SenateSénat
- The upper house of the French Parliament, representing local authorities under Article 24 of the Constitution; it sits in the Luxembourg Palace.
- Le Canard enchaîné
- A French satirical and investigative weekly published every Wednesday.
- Mediapart
- A French online investigative newspaper founded in 2007. After the riots it reported that an intelligence officer was asked to write that LFI was behind the movement.
- TF1Télévision française 1
- France's oldest national general TV channel, privatised in 1987 and controlled by the Bouygues group; its news site TF1 Info runs the fact-checking team Les Vérificateurs.
- ViginumService de vigilance et de protection contre les ingérences numériques étrangères
- France's agency for detecting and countering foreign digital interference, set up in 2021 under the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN).
- Visibrain
- A French social-media monitoring tool; franceinfo cited its data on post volumes on X on 17 October.
Events and history
- 2027 French presidential electionÉlection présidentielle française de 2027
- Scheduled for 18 April and 2 May 2027 (two rounds) to elect the president for a five-year term.
- Bloquons tout ("Block everything")Bloquons tout
- An online call to paralyse France on 10 September 2025 in protest at the 2026 budget of then prime minister François Bayrou. It is often compared with the October 2026 mobilisation.
- Death of Nahel MerzoukMort de Nahel Merzouk
- A 17-year-old shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre on 27 June 2023, which set off riots in several French cities.
- Reichstag fireReichstagsbrand
- The arson of the German parliament on 27 February 1933, which the Nazis blamed on communists and used to suspend civil liberties. Used as a metaphor for exploiting an incident to crush opponents.
- Yellow Vests (gilets jaunes)Mouvement des Gilets jaunes
- A leaderless protest movement that began in France in November 2018 after online calls against fuel tax rises; named after the high-visibility vests protesters wore.
Concepts and terms
- Astroturfingastroturfing
- Disguising an orchestrated message as spontaneous grassroots support, hiding who is really behind it, for example with large numbers of fake accounts.
- Banlieuebanlieue
- French for the mainly residential urban belt around a city centre. In the forum debates it is often used when blaming the riots on suburban youth.
- Foreign digital interferenceingérence numérique étrangère
- Attempts by foreign actors to influence a country's public debate by spreading or amplifying content online. In France it is monitored by Viginum.
- French school-student movementsmouvements lycéens
- Protest movements by lycée (upper secondary) students, often blockading school gates. In autumn 2026 they protested teacher shortages and run-down schools.
- French–German bond spreadspread OAT–Bund
- The gap between France's and Germany's ten-year government borrowing rates; the wider it is, the more extra risk premium investors demand to lend to France.
- Parcoursup
- France's university admissions platform, used since 2018 to collect and allocate students' choices. Some protesting students want it scrapped.