Is this a bad joke? Since this morning, many Internet users have been wondering why the Ukrainian flag appears on their TousAntiCovid application. Some even fear that it is a cyberattack. This is particularly the case of deputy LR Julien Aubert, who fears that his vaccination pass has been deactivated. “Either the government is having fun deactivating the health passes without warning in support of Ukraine – an operation with dubious taste – or (Russian?) hackers have infiltrated an app that lists health data, in defiance of our digital #sovereignty. So ? “, can we read in this message (quite quickly deleted).
Contacted by Le Parisien, the Secretary of State in charge of the Digital Transition and Electronic Communications Cédric O lets us know that this is indeed an operation validated by the executive. The appearance of this small flag is therefore a mark of support for the Ukrainian people, victims of the war launched Thursday by Vladimir Putin. “The flag will be displayed until this evening on the application”, completes his entourage.
This isn’t the first time emojis have appeared in the app. A tree had for example been displayed during the Christmas celebrations. But also a masked emoji, to remind the French of the importance of wearing it to fight against the Covid epidemic. Or even a snowflake this winter.
The vaccine passes have also not been deactivated. This “disabled” parameter only concerns “tracing”. It can be reactivated with a simple click on the application.