By Antoni Slodkowski and John Irish
NEW YORK/PARIS, Nov 9 (Reuters) – A covert Russian network sought to exploit last month’s riots in France by using social media to blame the unrest on uncontrolled immigration and portray the government as having lost control, according to an internal EU assessment seen by Reuters.
A separate internal assessment, compiled by France’s foreign ministry and also seen by Reuters, found that social media accounts linked to Israel and to the US MAGA movement also pushed “hostile narratives” around the riots, linking them to radical Islamism and migration.
Taken together, the assessments offer an insight into how external actors have been trying to use France’s domestic turmoil for their own political ends, according to analysis by European disinformation specialists.
The European Union analysis found that a covert Russian network known as “Operation Overload” spread videos impersonating Western media outlets to target French audiences, some falsely claiming migrants had raped protesters or terrorist attacks were imminent.
The Russian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. In August, ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova rejected allegations by a French state watchdog agency of spreading disinformation about France’s 2027 elections and said they would “not be the last concoction which the authorities will use to manipulate public opinion”.
Rioting erupted in cities across France last month as demonstrations against rising living costs and declining public services spiralled out of control in some of the worst violence the country has witnessed for decades.
The EU analysis, which covers the period from October 7 to 21, found that Russia sought to “depict the French leadership as weak and increasingly authoritarian”.
“Such events offer opportunities to undermine national governments, fuel fear and division, and shape public perceptions ahead of elections,” said the restricted-circulation EU document, prepared by disinformation experts in the bloc’s diplomatic service.
It found no evidence that Moscow or other actors had instigated or escalated the protests, describing the activity as “the opportunistic exploitation of unrest”.
POSTS BY RUSSIAN, ISRAELI AND MAGA ACCOUNTS GOT MILLIONS OF VIEWS
The French foreign ministry’s assessment found that the 10 most-viewed X posts on the unrest from “pro-Russian spheres” got 2.8 million views from October 16 to 18.
But those figures were dwarfed by the views achieved by X posts on the riots from accounts linked to the MAGA movement and to Israeli officials and influencers.
The 10 most-viewed X posts on France’s unrest by MAGA-linked officials, media outlets and influencers got more than 49 million views from October 16 to 18, according to the French ministry report.
The 10 most-viewed posts from Israeli officials, government accounts, media outlets and influencers got more than 35 million views in the same period, the French report said.
CAMPAIGNS ARE PART OF ‘NARRATIVE COMPETITION’, EXPERT SAYS
Elina Treyger, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation think tank, said such campaigns wage a slow-burning “narrative competition” that over time can shape how Western democracies are seen in Europe and beyond.
Treyger said they feed an anti-immigrant backlash that is pushing European voters toward political extremes.
Reuters was not able to independently verify assertions made in either the French or the EU report.
Asked for comment, French officials referred Reuters to remarks by President Emmanuel Macron, who said on October 21 there had been no visible foreign interference behind the protests but there had been “foreign manipulation of information”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and the Israeli foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
EU CITES ‘OPERATION OVERLOAD’ AS RUSSIAN-ALIGNED EFFORT TO DISCREDIT WEST
The EU report said “Operation Overload,” active since September 2023, has targeted Western “public figures, institutions, and media outlets” to “discredit these entities and their support for Ukraine while promoting content aligned with Russian interests.”
Its activity “also intended to undermine European support to Ukraine by claiming that European governments prioritise Ukraine over domestic issues,” the report said.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a Britain-based think tank, said in a report last year that Operation Overload was “a persistent and high-volume Russian information operation. It impersonates trusted sources to sow discord, confusion and distrust.”
“The operation creates and posts videos that appear to be news reports, uses AI to clone experts’ voices, forges newspaper headlines, and manipulates images,” the institute said, adding that it “pivots from country to country to exploit crises and debates.”
France’s disinformation watchdog Viginum published a detailed report on Overload and similar Russian operations in 2024 and French officials have said they resurface during protests, elections or other opportunities to discredit France.
(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski in New York and John Irish in Paris; Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Brussels; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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