While the Oxford Dictionaries Online is actively expanding into social networking — going so far as to add “Twittersphere” and “Unfollow” last week, France appears to be moving in the opposite direction.
The European country has banned the names of Facebook and Twitter from being spoken on radio or television, unless they are part of a news story.
The reason for the ban goes back to a 1992 decree that says mentioning such services by name is an act of advertising. Therefore, using the terms “Twitter” and “Facebook” constitutes preferential treatment.
Christine Kelly, spokeswoman for the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA), the government broadcasting authority, said: “Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars, when there are other social networks that are struggling for recognition. This would be a distortion of competition. If we allow Facebook and Twitter to be cited on air, it’s opening a Pandora’s box. Other social networks will complain to us, saying ‘Why not us?’”
Kelly also explained that the CSA was not seeking to block the networks, only to foster fairer practices. “We encourage the use of social networks … CSA members spend hours on them. Perhaps one day Facebook will become a generic term, but for the moment it is a commercial enterprise — the leading one, certainly, but not the only one.”
So, French broadcasters will no longer use the website names unless it was “pivotal to the story”, and brands will no longer say: ”Find us at Facebook.com/Audi” or “Follow us on Twitter.com/Pepsi”. Instead, they’ll say things like “Find us on social networking sites!”
