Linguistic Censorship
The Toubon law enacted in 1994 has the cultural goal of "reaffirming the position of the French language". It requires "the compulsory use of the French language in all written, ...radio and television advertising..." As a direct consequence, advertising industry workers in France have expressed "frustration with regards to what many of them perceive as linguistic censorship." Computer software developed outside France has to have its user interface and instruction manuals translated into French to be legally used by companies in France, due to the provision of the Toubon law applying to all workplaces that "any document that contains obligations for the employee or provisions whose knowledge is necessary for the performance of one's work must be written in French." Also under this law, French language is required in all audiovisual programs, with exceptions for musical works and 'original version' films. Under a related law for television, a minimum of 60 per cent of the movies and TV series must be produced in European countries and 40 per cent in Francophone countries, and these minimums must be met during evening prime-time as well as daily overall time. The latter law is not linguistic censorship because it applies to television programs that are dubbed into French; rather it is a restriction of foreign-produced cultural content. In another law that involves censorship of both linguistic and foreign-produced content, songs in the French language on radio are protected by a minimum quota system.
Read more about this topic: Censorship In France
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