Covert Russian network exploited French riots on social media, EU report says

A covert Russian network, known as "Operation Overload," sought to exploit the riots in France in late September by using social media to spread misinformation and portray the government as losing control, according to internal EU assessments. The Russian network posted videos impersonating Western media outlets, falsely claiming migrants had raped protesters or that terrorist attacks were imminent.

A separate assessment by France's foreign ministry found that social media accounts linked to Israel and the U.S. MAGA movement also promoted "hostile narratives" around the riots, connecting them to radical Islamism and migration. The EU analysis found that the Russian network aimed to "depict the French leadership as weak and increasingly authoritarian," while the French foreign ministry report highlighted that the most-viewed posts on the unrest by pro-Russian accounts received 2.8 million views, dwarfed by the 49 million views garnered by posts from MAGA-linked accounts and Israeli officials.

Both assessments suggest that external actors attempt to use France's domestic turmoil for their own political ends.