How French police are harnessing social media to identify looters

France's police striving to identify and arrest looters who shattered shops in last weekend's unrest are relying on one tool to trigger their forensic follow-up: social media. "We are working the social networks... then we go over all that with our own tools, to see if the crimes seen on social media correspond with the crimes we're studying," said an officer seated in a special operations room with 10 screens in front of him. To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: Des casseurs tentent de briser la vitrine d'un magasin Snipes près de Châtelet-Les Halles, le 18 octobre 2026. © AFP, Matthieu Rondel 01:55 Watch moreOctober 17 riots in France: Who's responsible? The officer, identified only by his first name, Bruno, was seated in a gamer-style chair, pushing a mouse around as looked closely at a video. He said he was convinced he had identified a group of four youths who took part in the looting that had scarred Paris streets. Using street security cameras as well a...