French President; Emmanuel Macron has issued a warning to the public against spreading fake news and misinformation ahead of the country’s presidential election in April.

This has become even a more pressing issue as Macron suggested that new laws should be implemented to hold people who contribute to the spread of fake news accountable.

In a Tuesday speech, Macron proposed that notable websites, online personalities, influencers and foreign media personnel authorized to circulate stories to France should be held responsible, too.

He said these groups “must have a framework of responsibility that is yet to be built.”

The speech came after Macron received a report he commissioned in October to study the effects of fake news. Among the report’s recommendations were sanctioning people who spread misinformation and teaching children not to believe everything they see on social media.

“We must also know how to protect ourselves against foreign interference,” Macron said.

The committee that wrote the report was led by sociologist Gérald Bronner. According to Politico, scholars, sociologists, professors, journalists and historians worked on the report, with the committee dubbed “the Enlightenment in the digital age.”

Bronner said the aim of the recommendations was not to limit freedom of expression but to protect democracy.

“Our recommendations therefore are not meant to eradicate any news-related problems,” he said. “But [they are meant] to limit the spread of contents that are damaging to democratic life, to deter malicious behavior, to sanction illegal practices.”

Macron also warned that Western democracies are currently not strong enough to face “propaganda actors financed by foreign authoritarian regimes, which do not comply with accountability procedures and journalistic ethics.”