Politics Please say rock bottom is getting close

Emmanuel Macron is buying votes for €100. Elton John says the EU is crumbling. Beyoncé thinks the French president is a puppet. The far right will help France win back its independence.

These are just some of the narratives and fake claims spun by Russia’s intricate disinformation network ahead of France’s Sunday parliamentary elections, according to French officials and cyber security experts.

Analysis of a range of sources reveals a co-ordinated campaign of disinformation that has smeared Mr Macron, while promoting Eurosceptic far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, who have voiced opposition to Ukraine.

i has identified various tools Russia has used to disseminate propaganda, ranging from fake websites and X/Twitter bots spreading false narratives, to X and Facebook ads that have been used to spread fake claims about Mr Macron. This disinformation is often picked up by Russian state media and even promoted by Russian embassies, in a co-ordinated attempt to undermine French democracy.

One tactic Russia has used is fake websites masquerading as legitimate news sources, which target UK, US and French voters with disinformation.

A website masquerading as French news outlet Le Point under a similar URL published an article saying Nato was preventing France from becoming a global power and that “an opposition victory” would help France regain its independence.







The claim was then circulated on X by President Vladimir Putin’s network of Russian bots, according to Bot Blocker/Anti-bot for Navalny, an organisation that exposes Russian social media attacks.

The X post claims Ms Le Pen will refuse to allow Mr Macron to determine the strategy for Ukraine and defence issues.

Another fake website posing as French newspaper Le Parisien claimed Mr Bardella and the RN (National Rally party) “wants to restore French Independence”, while “Macron delivers France to pro-American globalists”, adding: “Jordan Bardella proposes a return of the origins of sovereignty.”

 

The claim was then circulated on X by President Vladimir Putin’s network of Russian bots, according to Bot Blocker/Anti-bot for Navalny, an organisation that exposes Russian social media attacks.

The X post claims Ms Le Pen will refuse to allow Mr Macron to determine the strategy for Ukraine and defence issues.

Another fake website posing as French newspaper Le Parisien claimed Mr Bardella and the RN (National Rally party) “wants to restore French Independence”, while “Macron delivers France to pro-American globalists”, adding: “Jordan Bardella proposes a return of the origins of sovereignty.”



But these websites do not just voice support for the far right, they actively spread disinformation about Mr Macron. A fake website mimicking the president’s party, Ensemble, claimed he and the party were buying votes for €100 for the snap election.

Named FranceEnColere, the website spread the disinformation in what experts call attempted “narrative laundering” — when Russia attempts to surface fake news into its mainstream media.

This website belongs to a pro-Kremlin fake media network operated by John Dougan — a former US Marine who was given asylum by the Russian state, according to EUvsDisinfo.

https://twitter.com/antibot4navalny/status/1807803187715338390

i has previously reported how Mr Dougan is believed to run a network of 167 fake news English language websites on behalf of a Russian interference operation previously funded and overseen by former Putin-ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group killed in a plane crash last August.

The network has links to Project Lakhta, a Russian interference operation previously funded and overseen by Prigozhin that targets US, European, and Ukrainian audiences, according to NewsGuard – a team that monitors misinformation – citing European intelligence and a report from the US Treasury Department.

The false claim spread by the Russian fake news website was then spread through Russian Telegram channels, before it was distributed via Russian bots on X on Monday, according to Bot Blocker.
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/russia-fake-news-bot-campaign-french-far-right-3149163?ITO=newsnow

 

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