Russian disinformation: They use the identity of a French news agency to spread the threat of a serious epidemic

This Wednesday Radio France International fell victim to the Russian disinformation apparatus.

The French agency reported that a fake news story claiming to be Radio France International appeared online Wednesday afternoon. The video suggested without any proofThat a tuberculosis epidemic threatens France due to the hospitalization of Ukrainian soldiers in the country’s hospitals.

The publication of this false news on various distribution channels proves this RFI is the target of a coordinated cyber attack.

Discovered by the Russian Service and the RFI International 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, incorrectly, created by the RFI editorial team. In reality this is fake news, RFI is not the origin of this content.

The fraudulent production appears to have first appeared online on the Telegram messaging application at 2.47pm Paris time (10.47pm in Argentina). The Russian account that posted it is called “Russian Current Affairs” (Russia News) and has around 4,282 followers.

A campaign against the Olympic Games

The video’s narration claims, without evidence, that “a Ukrainian tuberculosis epidemic threatens France due to the hospitalization of Ukrainian soldiers for treatment.” The attached comment 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 news attributed to RFI. One of these is followed by more than 118,000 people. Both were identified as important vectors of pro-Russian propaganda since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.

This fake news, after Telegram, is published on VKontakte, the equivalent of Facebook in Russia, then on X (formerly Twitter) and on Russian sites. Each time it is almost word for word the same comment in Russian that accompanies the video.

This diffusion model, the anti-Ukrainian narrative and the technique of impersonating a communication medium leaves little doubt as to the origin of this information attack. This modus operandi he has already addressed many French and international media.

If you have questions about the authenticity of the contents of the RFI brand, 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 overwhelmed him Kate MiddletonThe Princess of Wales, before revealing her cancer diagnosis last week, probably did not need help from a foreign state. But British investigators said Wednesday that a known Russian disinformation operation helped incite the situation, she reported Thursday. The New York Times.

Martin Innes, a digital disinformation expert at Cardiff University in Wales, said he and his colleagues said so They monitored 45 social media accounts who posted a false statement about Catherine, also known as Kate, on a Kremlin-linked disinformation network, which had previously spread divisions. stories about the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyj and about France’s support for Ukraine.

As in those cases, Innes said, the influence campaign seemed calculated to inflame divisions, deepen the sense of chaos in society and erode trust in institutions (in this case, the British royal family and the media).

“It causes an emotional reaction,” he said. “The story was already 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 last three monthsas the paucity of information about his condition has created a void an online army full of rumors and speculation. For the Russian network, amplifying these publications through its accounts would allow it to increase its traffic statistics and number of followers.

It’s unclear who may have hired the disinformation network to go after Kate, but has a history of campaigning to weaken countries and people at odds with the Kremlin. Britain’s strong support for Ukraine and London’s long-standing antagonism towards Moscow would make Ukraine an attractive target for the Russians.