TIL France had a "proto-internet" called Minitel, to which half the population had access. It allowed for buying plane tickets, shopping, 24-hr news, message boards & adult chat services. It was used to coordinate a national strike in 1986. Some believe it hindered the internet's adoption in France.
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Résumé
Minitel , officially known as TELETEL , was an interactive videotex online service accessible through telephone lines. It was the world's first and most successful mass-market online service prior to the World Wide Web . [ 1 ] It was developed in Cesson-Sévigné , Brittany, by government-owned France Télécom .
