The Minister of National Education, Édouard Geffray, announced on France Inter on Thursday 26th March that he had referred the public prosecutor of Paris under Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for “incitement to suicide”, “unlawful data processing”, and “transfer of data of an illegal nature” concerning the TikTok algorithm. Social networks are regularly accused of affecting the mental health of adolescents.
“I took the test myself,” explained Édouard Geffray. “My office and I created an account on TikTok, claiming to be 14 years old. In less than 20 minutes, without liking anything, we ended up with depressive videos, real tutorials on self-harm, and suicide incitement videos,” detailed the minister.
“Spirals of death” is a term used by the minister of National Education to describe the dangerous directions adolescents are led into, declaring, “We need to stop these death spirals that take adolescents in dangerous directions for their lives.” Édouard Geffray claims to have handed a USB stick to the public prosecutor of Paris showing “the film of the system.”
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation in November 2025, following a report by socialist MP Arthur Delaporte, highlighting the “easy access” for “minors” to the TikTok algorithm, which is accused of potentially leading the most vulnerable towards suicide, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
