France says Russia seeking to manipulate influencers in Europe

PARIS — France on Wednesday accused Russia of seeking to manipulate French and other European social media influencers, saying Moscow was employing varied and fast-evolving digital interference tactics.

Concern over the alleged spread of misinformation by Russia has grown since the 2016 US election campaign that saw Donald Trump win the White House for the first time and has only intensified after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

"We have evidence that confirms that Russia is also trying to manipulate influencers in European countries, including France," Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told parliament's foreign affairs committee.

Le Monde daily reported earlier that thousands of influencers, including in France, had been approached by individuals close to the Kremlin to spread pro-Russian propaganda.

Barrot said France is targeted by "several types" of foreign digital interference.

"The operating methods deployed are varied and they evolve frequently," he said, pointing to recent elections in Moldova and Romania which he said illustrated "the massive use of influencers on social networks", particularly on X, to disrupt the vote.

Pro-European President Maia Sandu won Moldova's November elections against a challenge from a pro-Moscow rival.

But in Romania, far-right candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly topped the first round of voting in presidential elections. 

The Romanian constitutional court later annulled the electoral process by ruling it was marred "by multiple irregularities".

The EU said on Tuesday it had opened a formal investigation into TikTok following allegations the platform was used by Russia to sway the result of Romania's election.

Le Monde quoted a source within the French intelligence services as saying that more than 2,000 European content producers have been contacted by Moscow.

"About 20 of them, including nine French, are said to have accepted the deal," Le Monde added.

"Investigations are ongoing and we call on content creators, like their subscribers, to be extremely vigilant about these threats," Barrot said.

"And in this area, we must be resolute, keep our cool. We must understand the threat. Present a united front and choose the right tools to respond to it," he added, saying that France has strengthened its tools "to detect and characterise digital interference."