The EU investigates Russian interference in French riots

EU regulators and the EU diplomatic service have launched an investigation into a large-scale disinformation and hybrid interference campaign that accompanied mass rioting and looting in France and other European countries. According to security services, pro-Kremlin and Iranian networks exploited real street protests to artificially escalate violence and fuel racial and social discord. Source: FT

Intelligence services and disinformation experts, including researchers from Sciences Po, have identified direct activity by Russian and Iranian entities. Russian disinformation operators fabricated and circulated fake video reports on a massive scale. In one case, an account on social media platform X with 5,000 followers posted a video showing protesters throwing pyrotechnics at police. It garnered nearly 6 million views with a false caption claiming the events took place in Paris, although the footage was actually shot in Tbilisi in 2024.

Franco-Iranian blogger Shahin Khazami and other accounts linked to Tehran also circulated videos about “French police brutality,” which garnered more than 4 million views. Following similar posts on the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s official accounts, France formally summoned the Iranian ambassador on October 7.

The most extensive distortion of information came from far-right influencers abroad—Tommy Robinson, Alex Jones, and Benny Johnson—who presented footage of Kurdish protests in 2022 and celebrations over PSG’s victory as a “civil war in France.” Their posts reached an audience ten times larger than that of official propaganda.

Although intelligence services stress that the protests themselves began for domestic reasons, such as the teachers’ protest in Créteil on September 17, foreign actors used social media algorithms to artificially “stoke” chaos. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto described the situation as “hybrid warfare using TikTok and social media.”

The European Commission has already held emergency meetings with French regulator Arcom and representatives of digital platforms, including Elon Musk’s X, TikTok, and Meta. Brussels demanded that the platforms immediately adjust their algorithms so they would not amplify violent content. Regulators also ordered marketplaces Vinted and Amazon to block any listings for goods looted during riots in French cities.

As a reminder, Russian intelligence services are amplifying fake reports about unrest in France..