One of the most far-reaching anti-terror laws in the European Union can come into force in France.

On Friday evening, the Constitutional Council largely approved the new law, which was finally passed by the National Assembly on July 22nd.

Critics had complained that the law expanded surveillance of citizens and undermined the protection of privacy on the Internet.

Left party LFI MP Ugo Bernalicis warned that the Pegasus scandal shows how quickly surveillance technology can be abused.

The nine wise men of the Constitutional Council had to urgently review the law within a week.

Michaela Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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The law provides for the use of computer algorithms that evaluate which network users share content suspected of terrorism.

So far this had only been done on an experimental basis.

France is increasingly using big data approaches to counter terrorism in social media.

The government hopes that this will help the security forces become aware of radicalization sooner.

Once discovered, the secret services should watch these accounts meticulously and take preventive measures in the event of proven radicalization.

Anti-terror laws repeatedly tightened

The aim is to respond to the changed threat from individual perpetrators who were not identified by the authorities in good time.

Since the wave of terrorism in 2015/16, France has repeatedly tightened its anti-terrorist laws and incorporated the special powers decreed in a state of emergency into legislation.

House arrest and residence bans may no longer only be imposed on people “who pose a real threat”, but from now on also against people “whose behavior can be assumed to pose a threat to public safety and order”.

The law also provides that French people convicted of terrorism will be better monitored after their release from prison.

The Constitutional Council objected to the planned restrictions on freedom of movement over two years for released prisoners and reduced the duration to one year. Otherwise they are not proportionate. This affects prisoners who had been sentenced to prison terms of five or more years for terrorism. They are not allowed to change their place of residence for a year after their release and have to report to the police at regular intervals.

On September 8, the trial of the Paris terrorist attacks, in which 131 people were killed and hundreds more injured, begins in the French capital. Today, however, France fears less organized terrorist cells such as the cell allegedly controlled from Syria that was responsible for the Paris attacks. The latest terrorist attacks are the result of individual perpetrators who had radicalized themselves on the Internet. The government does not want to give the impression that it is reacting naively to the new threat.

The new anti-terror law creates the legal framework for the use of the algorithms that sound the alarm when people communicate with Islamist groups abroad or make contact with domestic threats.

As of 2017, France has counted 15 attacks in which 25 people died.

According to the Interior Ministry, 36 attacks have been foiled.

The Constitutional Council approved the use of algorithms because they served the overriding goal of protecting the population from terrorist attacks.

More than 50 senators had called the Constitutional Council.

The Constitutional Council also approved an article of the law, harshly criticized by historians, which extends the period for access to classified archives over the previous period of 50 years.