One of the leaders of the New Popular Front in France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, promised Arabic will be an official language after the recent elections.
There is no evidence Mr Mélenchon said this and it is not a policy of his party, or the New Popular Front coalition.
A post viewed 1.8 million times on X (formerly Twitter) claims: “The Leader of the French Popular Front, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, PROMISES that Arabic will become an OFFICIAL language in France after today’s Election Result.”
But there is no evidence Mr Mélenchon said any such thing.
Mr Mélenchon is the leader of political party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) which is part of the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front populaire or NFP), a coalition of the main French left-wing political parties.
The post on X, which has since spread to Facebook, appears to be a direct translation of a Spanish language version, which includes the same picture, and was posted a couple of hours earlier on 7 July.
The same account posted a similar tweet in Spanish, claiming (translated by Google): “#URGENT New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer WANTS Arabic to be an OFFICIAL language in the United Kingdom”.
There is likewise no evidence Mr Starmer has ever mentioned wanting to make Arabic an “official language” of the United Kingdom.
The picture of Mr Mélenchon shared with the original claim comes from 30 June 2024. Full Fact has watched a video taken during his speech and could find no mentions of Arabic becoming an official language in France.
Likewise in speeches after the election result, Full Fact could find no mentions of making Arabic an official language. It is not mentioned in any policies of the NFP either.
It's important to consider whether what you see is accurate before sharing it online, as misleading posts such as these can undermine trust in election results and democratic processes. We’ve written other checks on the recent French elections, including a picture and video clip claiming to show Marine Le Pen crying after her party, the National Rally, came third.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because Jean-Luc Mélenchon has not promised Arabic will be an official language in France after the recent elections.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.