Maybe What I do know is that press in france is rather tightly state controlled, sequels of wwII to prevent it from becoming the enemy's propaganda bullhorn For the most part it's liberal left wing leaning drivel, not only but mostly, so it's not a direct control, sarkozy for instance got bashed to no end by the press because he wanted to modify their subsidized status; they are subsidized by the state, that's where the control part starts However, on some key bi partisan issues, when order is given to not talk about a certain topic, stuffs related to national security mostly but not only, you have foreign relation matters, they shut up. Left leaning free masonry is the cog between the sate and the press essentially, so they can align/pass orders on behalf of .gov... Or not. But for sensitive internal affairs, they act. (it's french free masonry btw, it's different from anglo masonry but I digress) So, here, what's at stake? They fear a copy pasta with the US (remember, BLM attacked US embassy in greece...), immigration rejection/"skepticism" keeps on growing in france, since a while now, no go zones are a thing, you have calais and the migroid crisis, the dossiers keep piling on https://www.thedailybeast.com/amid-spreading-george-floyd-protests-in-europe-a-question-do-black-lives-matter-less-in-france https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/opinion/black-lives-matter-in-france-too.html Same deal a wannabe gangsta died in the hands of police not so long ago and the affair is resurfacing... I believe Le Monde confirming the US stats, is a not so subtle form damage control in the end France is a couple of inches away from total breakdown with covid and gilet jaunes plus the bazillions of shits piling on since decades, plus italy virtually going bankrupt (france is a huge lender to italy)... So they pretty much do anything they can to keep things as cool as possible, socially speaking Free masonry is everywhere in france, you can hardly find a lawyer in paris who isn't into it for instance, and it doesn't stop there, paper press is also massively tied to them via editors in chief ... And yes you have right wing freemasonry too, they aren't the dominant faction, but they exist