After losing a government tender, French social listening firm Visibrain filed a legal challenge—which was dismissed. Luxembourg-based competitor Takwalker, which subsequently won the contract, is now caught in the backlash.
“It’s concerning: the government chooses a foreign company to monitor social media.”
“A foreign firm will monitor the government’s social media activity: 66 MPs question the Prime Minister, demanding a change.”
These recent headlines from Le Parisien–Aujourd’hui en France reflect the outrage surrounding the awarding of the French government’s Information Service, the SIG, of a four-year social media monitoring contract to Canadian-owned a company, backed by American capital.
Concerns relate to potential private data leaks.
”We strongly object to this decision and emphasise the importance of supporting French and European companies,” wrote French MP Paul Midy on LinkedIn. Midy is also the spokesperson for Ensemble pour la République (EPR) parliamentary group, the party of President Emmanuel Macron.
However, the contract winner is Talkwalker, a Luxembourg success story, offering social media monitoring tools for brands and organisations to track their online reputation, measure advertising campaign effectiveness, refine communications, or detect weak signals on emerging issues or potential crises.
Founded in 2010 by Luxembourgers Thibaut Britz, Christophe Folschette, and Robert Glaesener, the company was acquired in 2024 by Canadian firm Hootsuite, whose offerings complement Talkwalker’s. Nonetheless, its headquarters remain on Avenue Kennedy in Kirchberg, where around 100 employees are based.
Media and Lobbying Campaign
Talkwalker’s French rival, Visibrain, which previously supplied social listening tools to major French ministries, rejected the decision. And it launched a media and lobbying campaign targeting lawmakers. As reported by La Lettre, it also filed an administrative appeal against the SIG’s decision.
During the June 12 hearing, Visibrain claimed that Talkwalker had won the contract by submitting an abnormally low bid—three times lower than its own. As the incumbent provider, Visibrain added that Talkwalker did not include TikTok monitoring–allegedly a requirement in the tender. However, the court rejected its claims.
Speaking to Forbes.lu, Talkwalker disputed these arguments. The combined group now employs 48 people in Paris.
”The SIG tender included four or five lots and followed a standard process. We had already participated in 2021,” Talkwalker and Hootsuite VP Sales Enterprise Europe Charlotte Clemens explained.
€8.6 Million Framework Agreement
Back then, Talkwalker had already won a smaller lot. According to media reports, the current controversial lot—titled ‘Real-time impact measurement of publicly accessible online content’—is valued at €8.6 million, compared to €1.6 million for the previous 2021 award. Clemens, however, disputed the figure, calling it a maximum estimate, not a guaranteed amount:
”This is a budgetary provision over four years. It’s a theoretical envelope defined by the legal framework. It’s not an €8.6 million contract, but a framework agreement. It allows entities under the SIG to work with Talkwalker, but they are not required to. Each entity can choose to engage with us depending on its needs,” she said.
Talkwalker also firmly denied undercutting the market with an unsustainably low price: ”Four years ago, we offered a similar price and no one objected. This time, we only applied a 5% increase, which aligns with inflation. Our prices reflect market rates—nothing more, nothing less.”
Regarding TikTok, Clemens strongly rejected Visibrain’s claim:
”That’s simply false. Data collection can be done in several ways. There’s scraping, which is quite aggressive and often violates platforms’ terms of service. Then there are official APIs provided by the platforms themselves. We have a partnership with TikTok through their official API, which is being rolled out in three phases. Phases 1 and 2 are done; phase 3 is coming. So to say we don’t cover TikTok is simply incorrect.”
The company also dismissed concerns about data being transferred to North America, noting that its data centers are located in Germany.
A Sensitive Issue
A month after the ruling and the official contract award, Clemens was puzzled by the uproar:
”Honestly, I don’t really understand it. I’m French. I set up the Paris office, and we’ve been operating there for five years. We’ve always worked transparently. Maybe tensions rose because this is a sensitive issue—but I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
She added that Talkwalker already provides social listening services to several governments, though she declined to name the countries involved.
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