Guinea’s High Authority for Communication (HAC), has banned French international news channel, France 24, from broadcasting nationwide with immediate effect from September 17, 2026.
The decision applies to all transmission platforms, including satellite, cable, mobile applications, websites and social media.
The HAC also revoked France 24’s broadcast authorisation and withdrew the press accreditations of all correspondents, special envoys, journalists and other France 24 personnel in the country. It further instructed the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPT) to block digital access to the channel and ordered the French multinational pay-TV provider Canal+ Guinea to cut its signal.
The HAC’s decision follows a news bulletin broadcast by France 24 on September 15, in which Guinean President Mamadi Doumbouya was referred to as a “putschist president”. The following day, the HAC issued a formal notice, requiring the broadcaster to stop using the term and make editorial corrections.
The regulator deemed that the description failed to take account of Doumbouya’s current institutional status and constituted a breach of the principles of accuracy, impartiality and balance in news reporting. It consequently ordered France 24 to make the necessary editorial corrections across its digital platforms.
On September 17, the HAC shut down France 24 with immediate effect, citing a “manifest, deliberate and characterised refusal” to comply with the formal notice, as well as the “continued maintenance of the incriminated remarks”. It also cited the need to preserve public order, institutional stability and the country’s image.
France 24 later added an online correction to the video’s description, stating that Doumbouya had been “mistakenly labeled a coup leader,” and giving the correct account of his history, a 2021 coup followed by his election as president in December 2025.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is concerned about the HAC’s shutdown of France 24, the withdrawal of its journalists’ press accreditations and the blocking of its digital platforms.
The MFWA therefore calls on the HAC to reconsider the measures imposed, restore the broadcaster’s authorisation to operate in Guinea and the accreditations of its journalists. We further encourage the HAC and France 24 to engage in dialogue and prioritise constructive mediation.
The Guinean authorities must ensure that concerns regarding media ethics and professionalism are addressed without restricting media freedom or the public’s access to information, and must foster an environment in which national and international media can operate freely, in line with the principles of press freedom and the public’s right to information.
