The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on 3 April that it has initiated an investigation into the French news channel CNews for potential hate speech stemming from alleged racist comments directed towards Bally Bagayoko, the newly elected African-origin mayor of the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. Furthermore, the prosecutor’s office has launched a separate investigation into allegations of cyberbullying targeting Mayor Bagayoko due to his racial identity.
CNews, a 24-hour news channel owned by the Vivendi group and controlled by French businessman Vincent Bolloré, was accused, along with other Bolloré group outlets such as Journal du Dimanche, by media watchdogs of promoting narratives that perpetuate far-right ideologies through their frequent coverage of immigration and security issues.
Born in 1973, Mayor Bagayoko is a member of the left party La France Insoumise (LFI). Elected mayor of Saint-Denis in the 2026 French municipal elections, a city with a diverse population, filed a complaint on Wednesday. He alleges that statements made by panellists on CNews on 27 and 28 March constitute racial slurs, as noted in a statement from the prosecutor’s office. CNews rejected these accusations.
Under French law, racial slurs can incur up to one year in prison and fines of 45,000 euros, while cyberbullying may lead to two years in prison and 30,000 euros in fines.
