EU: Accounts from Russia, Israel and US spread nonsense surrounding French protests
EU experts have identified disinformation campaigns originating from Russia, Israel, and the United States that sought to amplify tensions during recent protests in France. These accounts exploited fears regarding migration and domestic policy to undermine the government, though there is no evidence they instigated the unrest itself.
A report by EU disinformation experts has identified coordinated efforts from Russia, Israel, and the United States to spread misleading content regarding recent protests in France. A Russian network known as Operation Overload allegedly produced fake videos between October 7 and 21 that mimicked Western media to exploit tensions surrounding migration and portray the French government as weak. These videos received millions of views, aiming to foster instability ahead of upcoming presidential elections.
Additional disinformation campaigns were linked to Israeli entities and American supporters of the MAGA movement. According to French government documents, these actors amplified narratives connecting the unrest to radical Islam and migration. While officials note these campaigns reached tens of millions of viewers on social media platforms like X, investigators found no evidence that foreign actors directly instigated the protests. President Emmanuel Macron has publicly condemned these instances as foreign information manipulation, noting that the content aimed to exploit existing domestic grievances rather than create the protests from scratch.
Based on reporting by nu. Translated and condensed by LocalHeadlines.
