"Our gems are struggling to grow," said Fleur Pellerin. "They need help." The junior minister for digital economy's comments came a week after Yahoo's attempt to buy a majority stake in the video-sharing site was scuppered by the country's Industry Minister.
A French government commission responsible for protecting the French language from anglicisms has forbidden the Twitter term "hashtag" from all official correspondence.
Free, one of France's largest Internet providers, now blocks Internet advertising for all users by default. Not coincidentally, they're in a very public clash with Google.
