After the publication of a video on Wednesday, published on his social networks, the President of the Republic is very criticized.
At the start of 2025, Emmanuel Macron knows that he no longer really arouses enthusiasm from the French. Its unpopularity reached a new summit in November, with 76% of French people who believe that it is “not a good head of state”. And only 24% think that it is “good” according to the latest pointing of the political barometer ofOdoxa, directed by Mascaret for Public Senate and the regional press.
It is unlikely that his rating will rise following his astonishing exit on the Tiktok social network on Wednesday evening. On his personal account, the president responded to verbalized Internet users for paying for a motorway toll using their phone. In 2025, “we must be able to pay the toll with your phone … So I passed the file to the Minister of the Interior and we will collectively settle this. Thank you for the alert! “He said in a video from which the golden moldings of the Élysée are discerned.
This reaction is a response to the misadventures encountered by an influencer on the road. “S4iintt”, as he calls himself on the Tiktok platform, is a content creator bringing together 252,000 subscribers. On January 16, he published a video in which he claimed to have had three points from the license withdrawn and received a fine (reduced) of 90 euros after paying with his phone in the toll.
According to Article R412-6-1 of the Highway Code“the use of a phone kept in hand by the driver of a vehicle in circulation” is indeed prohibited. For good reason, a toll vehicle is not considered to be stopped, but in circulation on a motorway track.
This communications by the head of state therefore risks reassuring the followers of mobile payment. On the other hand, for certain members of the opposition, this response is more than important. Several far -right elected officials have indeed responded on the social network X to the video of the French president. “Macron has finally found a mission at its height,” says Jean-Philippe Tanguy, deputy for the National Rally. He is also joined by his colleague Julien Odoul, deputy and spokesperson for the party: “France is saved !!!”, he quips.
Dozens of Internet users point to the offbeat and light character of this intervention. The nationalist Florian Philippot, who stood out in recent years by his conspiratorial impulses, is more vehement, denouncing “frightening” content. “While Trump signs presidential decrees on peace, massive investment plans, freedom of expression, the stop of immigration, the outing of the WHO, etc. Macron makes him videos for” that ‘In 2025 we can pay the toll with his phone “!” Written the president of the Patriotes party on X.