A petition calling for the French news channel CNews to be removed from broadcasting has passed the threshold that can trigger a debate in parliament, after gathering more than 500,000 signatures on the National Assembly’s website.
The petition had attracted 553,474 signatures by 14:34 GMT on Monday, according to the Assembly’s website. It was launched on 10 June 2026 and argues that CNews, owned by conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré, is not an information channel but a propaganda machine.
Passing 500,000 signatures does not by itself remove a channel or force a debate. Under National Assembly rules, a public debate can be organised once that threshold is reached, but a commission must first review the petition and decide whether a debate can take place.
Critics of the channel argue that its agenda has increasingly followed the lines taken by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. That connection matters, they say, because polls suggest Le Pen could win the 2027 presidential election, and she has promised to privatise public broadcasting, which CNews has long criticised.
CNews has risen from a 1% audience share at its launch in 2017 to profitability last year, when it became France’s most-watched free-to-air news channel. Its viewership has slipped this year as coverage of the Iran war has helped rival channels, but its influence in French political debate remains considerable.
The channel could not be immediately reached for comment, according to the report on which this story is based, so its response to the petition is not included here.
Note: the featured image is a file photo of the Palais Bourbon in Paris, seat of the French National Assembly, not a photograph of a CNews studio.
Sources: Reuters, “French petition seeks to shut down Bollore’s news channel CNews”, 2 November 2026, https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/french-petition-seeks-shut-down-bollores-news-channel-cnews-2026-11-02/
