French presidential hopeful Attal pitches social media blackout during riots

French presidential candidate Gabriel Attal reiterated his call to grant the government power to selectively block access to social media platforms to quell riots in the aftermath of widespread unrest across France over the weekend . “You have young people at home who see their friends going out to loot, which gives the impression that they’re getting away with it; they see them on social media, and then they go out too,” Attal said in an interview with French radio station RTL . Attal, a former prime minister who now leads French President Emmanuel Macron’s political party, said the measures must be “temporary” and “limited to the area where the riots are taking place.