This Wednesday Radio France International was a victim of the Russian disinformation apparatus.
The French agency reported that a false report posing as Radio France International appeared online on Wednesday afternoon. The video suggested,
without any evidence
, that
a tuberculosis epidemic threatens France
due to the admission of Ukrainian soldiers to the country's hospitals.
The publication of this false report on various distribution channels shows that
RFI is the target of a coordinated information attack.
Discovered by the Russian Service and the International RFI Service, this video
has been circulating online since Wednesday
. The logo at the top right of the image, the graphic letter, the edition and the credits suggest,
erroneously
, that it was produced by the RFI editorial team. In reality, this is a false report,
RFI is not at the origin of this content.
The fraudulent production appears to have appeared online for the first time on the Telegram messaging application at 2:47 pm Paris time (10:47 in Argentina). The Russian account that published it is called
"Russie Actualités"
(Russia News) and has about 4,282 followers.
A campaign against the Olympic Games
The video's narrative claims, without evidence, that a "Ukrainian tuberculosis epidemic threatens France due to the admission of Ukrainian soldiers for treatment." The accompanying commentary concludes:
"
Bedbugs
and tuberculosis. If only I could go to the Olympics in France..."
.
Ten minutes later, new Russian-language Telegram channels shared this false report attributed to RFI. One of them is followed by more than 118,000 people. Both have been identified as
important vectors of pro-Russian propaganda since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
It is on this account that the false report first appeared online. Photo: Screenshot/RFI montage
This fake news, after Telegram, is published on VKontakte,
the equivalent of Facebook in Russia,
then on X (formerly Twitter) and on Russian websites. Each time, it is almost word for word the same comment in Russian that accompanies the video.
This pattern of dissemination,
the anti-Ukrainian narrative
and the impersonation technique of a media outlet leave little doubt about the origin of this information attack. This
modus operandi
has already been addressed to many French and international media outlets.
If you have any questions about the authenticity of the RFI brand content, you can contact the Info Verif unit on WhatsApp at +33 6 89 07 61 09.
Another example: Kate Middleton
The whirlwind of conspiracy theories that engulfed
Kate Middleton
, Princess of Wales, before she revealed her cancer diagnosis last week probably didn't need help from a foreign state. But investigators in Britain said Wednesday that a notorious Russian disinformation operation helped stir up the situation,
The New York Times reports Thursday.
Video
The 42-year-old princess announced it through a video
Martin Innes, a digital disinformation expert at Cardiff University in Wales, said he and his colleagues
tracked 45 social media accounts
that posted a false claim about Catherine, also known as Kate, in
a Kremlin-linked disinformation network
, which He had previously spread divisions. stories about the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky as well as about
France's support for Ukraine.
As in those cases, Innes said, the influence campaign seemed calculated to inflame divisions,
deepen a sense of chaos in society
and erode trust in institutions (in this case, the British royal family and the media).
"It provokes an emotional reaction," he said. “The story was already being framed in terms of conspiracy, so you can appeal to those people. And people who support the royal family get angry.”
The reason, he said, was probably
both commercial and political.
Social media traffic on Kate
has skyrocketed in the past three months
, as a dearth of information about her condition created a void that
an online army filled with rumors and speculation
. For the Russian network, amplifying those publications through her accounts would allow them to increase their own traffic statistics and number of followers.
It's unclear who might have hired the disinformation network to go after Kate, but
it has a history of campaigning to undermine countries and people at odds with the Kremlin.
Britain's strong support for Ukraine and London's long-standing antagonism toward Moscow would make it a tempting target for the Russians.
With information from RFI and The New York Times