Laughter: A Weapon of Resistance or a Tool of Domination?
A session moderated by François Saltiel.
Donald Trump, who was caricatured last April in AI-generated videos circulated by the Iranian regime, has been caught in his own trap. This “troll-like” laugh, which has traveled from the fringes of the internet to the highest echelons of power, now serves as a vehicle for a fascist ideology. At the same time, the May hiatus of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show—an iconic American television program known for its biting take on the powerful—shows that spaces for defiance against authority are shrinking. The battle of laughter is well and truly underway.
A symbol of freedom of expression, criticism of those in power, and social satire, laughter is increasingly being exploited by leaders to assert their authority at great expense through spectacles and online smear campaigns. Laughter switches sides when it puts irony in power. In the name of the “right to humor,” the irony spread on social media and in certain political discourses is gradually pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable, spreading hateful ideas under the guise of jokes.
What does this profound dichotomy—between laughter that alerts us to and exposes oppression, and laughter as a tool of power and submission—say about our societies?
François Saltiel, journalist, author, teacher, and producer
François Saltiel is a journalist, author, teacher, and producer. Since September 2021, he has been the producer of the programs *Un monde connecté* (Monday through Thursday) and *La Fabrique de l’information* (Friday) on France Culture, which each week aim to spark debate about the future and examine the new technologies that are reshaping our society. Previously, he produced the program *Le Meilleur des mondes* for three seasons.
A television journalist (for theprograms “28 Minutes” on Arte and “C Médiatique” on France 5), he is also a co-founder of the production company Art2voir, which develops documentaries, podcasts, and fiction. Finally, he is vice president of the film education association Txiki Productions and has been teaching journalism and audiovisual production at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and IFP Paris 2 since 2005.
As an author, he published his first essay with Flammarion in 2018, *The Tea Seller Who Changed the World with a Hashtag*, followed in 2020 by *The Contactless Society: A Selfie of a World in Decline*, and in August 2025 by *Making Peace with Our Screens* with Virginie Sassoon, also published by Flammarion.
Laughter: A Weapon of Resistance or a Tool of Domination?
A session moderated by François Saltiel.
Donald Trump, who was caricatured last April in AI-generated videos circulated by the Iranian regime, has been caught in his own trap. This “troll-like” laugh, which has traveled from the fringes of the internet to the highest echelons of power, now serves as a vehicle for a fascist ideology. At the same time, the May hiatus of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show—an iconic American television program known for its biting take on the powerful—shows that spaces for defiance against authority are shrinking. The battle of laughter is well and truly underway.
A symbol of freedom of expression, criticism of those in power, and social satire, laughter is increasingly being exploited by leaders to assert their authority at great expense through spectacles and online smear campaigns. Laughter switches sides when it puts irony in power. In the name of the “right to humor,” the irony spread on social media and in certain political discourses is gradually pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable, spreading hateful ideas under the guise of jokes.
What does this profound dichotomy—between laughter that alerts us to and exposes oppression, and laughter as a tool of power and submission—say about our societies?
François Saltiel, journalist, author, teacher, and producer
François Saltiel is a journalist, author, teacher, and producer. Since September 2021, he has been the producer of the programs *Un monde connecté* (Monday through Thursday) and *La Fabrique de l’information* (Friday) on France Culture, which each week aim to spark debate about the future and examine the new technologies that are reshaping our society. Previously, he produced the program *Le Meilleur des mondes* for three seasons.
A television journalist (for theprograms “28 Minutes” on Arte and “C Médiatique” on France 5), he is also a co-founder of the production company Art2voir, which develops documentaries, podcasts, and fiction. Finally, he is vice president of the film education association Txiki Productions and has been teaching journalism and audiovisual production at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and IFP Paris 2 since 2005.
As an author, he published his first essay with Flammarion in 2018, *The Tea Seller Who Changed the World with a Hashtag*, followed in 2020 by *The Contactless Society: A Selfie of a World in Decline*, and in August 2025 by *Making Peace with Our Screens* with Virginie Sassoon, also published by Flammarion.
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