"It seems to me insufficient", "there are things that have been said but not taken seriously", reacted to the press Betty, Lindsay's mother, after an hour of interview.

The mother went even further, referring to the minister: "I did not find him sincere. I'm waiting for things to move, I'm waiting to see action," she said, visibly moved.

"We were not helped in time, neither before, nor during, nor after," she added, saying she was "lost", "alone" and "not helped".

Pap Ndiaye, who had said last week that the suicide of the teenager was "a collective failure", had invited Lindsay's family to come and meet him Monday afternoon in his ministry, to exchange with them after the suicide of the teenager, May 12, in the north of France, a drama with strong media coverage.

"The minister (Pap Ndiaye) wanted first of all by this meeting to bring all his support and express his emotion to the family of Lindsay in the face of this tragedy," said the rue de Grenelle in a statement.

But at the end of the meeting, the family's speech turned into an indictment of the minister and his anti-harassment policy.

The family's lawyer, Pierre Debuisson, explained that he had "the feeling that awareness is real but that it is not very deep, very serious. It may remain on the surface."

Three complaints were filed against the management of the college, the academy of Lille and the police officers in charge of the investigation for "non-assistance to person in danger", had detailed Thursday Me Debuisson at a press conference in Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de-Calais), where the schoolgirl was schooled.

'Admission of impotence'

A fourth complaint targets the social network Facebook "completely defective" in terms of content moderation and the fight against "hate speech", according to the lawyer, denouncing the continuation of harassment against Lindsay, especially on Instagram.

The role of social media was again denounced Monday by Lindsay's family.

The family's lawyer considered "frightening, the admission of impotence of the minister (Pap Ndiaye) himself, of the French state vis-à-vis social networks". "He (Pap Ndiaye) explained to us in black and white that the France was totally unable to absorb this outburst of hatred and violence on social networks, on Instagram, on Facebook, on Tiktok," Debuisson said.

"This admission of impotence, it is staggering, unacceptable," Debuisson said.

Last week, Ndiaye acknowledged that social networks "have their share of responsibility". It is even necessary, according to him, to "put them under pressure in a more accentuated way".

"With other ministries, we will consult and act extremely firmly with regard to social networks because, beyond what they can say, we know that their reaction is too slow and certainly not up to what we expect from them," the minister said Thursday.

Mr. Ndiaye also promised to "invite to exchange the main managers of social networks, in particular the Meta France group (Facebook, Instagram), SnapChat, TikTok and Twitter, in connection with the Ministry of the Interior and Overseas, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry in charge of Digital Transition and Telecommunications".

Pierre Debuisson, the lawyer for the family of the young Lindsay, during a press conference in Vendin-le-Vieil (Pas-de-Calais), June 1, 2023 © DENIS CHARLET / AFP/Archives

In a statement, he said Tuesday to bring together all rectors to "mobilize" them again against the "scourge" of harassment.

© 2023 AFP