Linternaute.com (webified name for ''L'Internaute'' or "the internet navigator") is a major French news site, launched in 2000. As of November 2020, it was the 99th most visited website in France. ''L'Internaute'' is published by

Groupe Figaro Groupe Figaro is a French media conglomerate owned by Dassault Group. The company contains some of the core assets of the now extinguished Socpresse that Dassault purchased in 2006. Dassault renamed its press holdings as "Groupe Figaro" in 2011. ...

School rankings

''L'Internaute'' creates its own rankings for school performance, by adjusting French government data with its own coefficients.

Ownership

The site is owned by the Figaro Group / CCM Benchmark Group, ranked fourth Internet group in France with 24 million VUs (Médiamétrie Netratings, January 2017) behind Google, Microsoft and Facebook. Founded in 1996, Benchmark Group was bought in 2010 by the CCM group (Comment ça marche), resulting in the creation of CCM Benchmark Group, ranking the combined entity as the 5th most visited websites in France. Groupe Figaro acquired CCM Benchmark Group in 2015, in what ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' described as "a great move," as Benchmark Group at the time had the 6th largest audience in France, through its properties Comment ca marche, Droit-finances.net, L’Internaute, the Journal des femmes, Le Journal du Net and Copains.

Audience

Per the survey institute Médiamétrie / NetRatings, in January 2017, Linternaute.com is the third news site in France with ten million unique visitors each month. According to the book ''Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies'', linternaute.com is one of "the most visited sites within France."

In print media

In 2003, the French book ''Internet!: surfez, communiquez, trouvez, téléchargez...'' cited linternaute.com as a gateway site that could help novice internet users make progress in the online world. And in 2007, the book ''Mieux utiliser internet pour être plus efficace'' listed first ''L'Internaute'' on its list of "best resources on the Internet."

Controversy

L'Internaute and its parent company were acquired by Groupe Figaro in 2015; with it Groupe Figaro became the largest native French online content provider, thus increasing the concentration of French media under

Serge Dassault Serge Dassault (; born Serge Paul André Bloch; 4 April 1925 – 28 May 2018) was a French engineer, businessman and politician. He was the chairman and chief executive officer of Dassault Group, and a conservative politician. According to ' ...

, long a source of controversy in terms of conflict-of-interest, as Dassault also owned a major military supplier,

Dassault Aviation Dassault Aviation SA () is a French Aerospace manufacturer, manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Dassault, Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marc ...

, and served in political positions from the Union for a Popular Movement party. His son

Olivier Dassault Olivier Dassault (; 1 June 1951 – 7 March 2021) was a French politician and billionaire businessman, who served as a deputy in the National Assembly. Early life and education Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, he was the son of businessman an ...

has been a member of the French National Assembly for 18 years, while at the same time holding several positions at

Dassault Group Dassault Group (; also GIM Dassault or Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault SAS) is a French corporate group, group of companies established in 1929 with the creation of Société des Avions Marcel Bloch (now Dassault Aviation) by Marcel Dassault, a ...

and its subsidiaries, including its media subsidiaries. Serge Dassault remarked in an interview in 2004 on the public radio station ''

France Inter France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...

'' that "newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas" and that "left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas.""M. Dassault veut une presse aux « idées saines »"
''

'', 12 December 2004. Retrieved 27 January 2007.

References

{{reflist Newspapers published in Paris French news websites Daily newspapers published in France Dassault Group