RFI Chronique de Mamane: "Démocratie en mode avion" Satirizes Election-Era Internet Shutdowns

RFI published the satirical chronicle "Démocratie en mode avion" on 6 October 2026 at 06:10, part of its "Chronique de Mamane" podcast series. The piece depicts an electoral period in which a figure called Président-Fondateur cuts off Internet access across the entire national territory, with Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok, Instagram and X vanishing "comme par magie." The chronicle adds that searching for "Gondwana" on Google prompts the platform to ask whether the user is certain the country exists. An accompanying image credit identifies "Gondwana One" as the presidential aircraft of Président-Fondateur, with graphic design by Studio graphique FMM. The text uses the airplane metaphor of its title to frame the shutdown as a retreat from democratic connectivity, and it names no real country, leader or date beyond the publication timestamp. The source URL is hosted on rfi.fr under the podcasts section. No further factual claims, statements or contextual details appear in the source material.