An African leader messaged Emmanuel Macron because he wanted to ask about the chaos after watching a video about military forces taking over France.
The reason was that automated software produced the clip to look like news from a channel called Live 24, so the footage featured a reporter standing by the Eiffel Tower among flashing police lights.
Interestingly, France ranks as a leading target for such attacks and Viginum documented many campaigns from Russian groups run by an organisation known as Storm-1516.
Storm-1516 operates on an industrial scale since views reached millions for several reports.
Artificial Intelligence Weaponises Falsehood
The current reach dwarfs the modest activity from earlier months and the explosion in volume makes a point. John Mark Dougan runs much of the work for he fled to Moscow after working as a sheriff in Florida.
The network built many fake news sites to spread lies in various languages while intelligence reports mentioned funding from Russian military intelligence. He manages hundreds of fabricated sites after professional groups named him a disinformer.
Farmers Become Propaganda Vehicles
Farmers erupted in protest over recent months as the protests started from worries about competition and pay. Operators hijacked the anger and they turned local complaints into propaganda for the whole continent.
Research found most of the posts came from right-wing groups, although the groups recorded false claims about forced diets and destroyed water pipes. AI videos operated as hidden tools for outside goals while reporters looked at how the clips served Russia.
Media Outlets Become Battlegrounds
Groups produced deepfakes of news bulletins and pro-Russian sites shared the lies as fact. The French Foreign Minister said debate in Europe meets constant attacks for he accused Russian intelligence of targeting elections.
The certificate plan caused a row since Macron proposed a method to verify fact-based news. Media owners accused him of acting like a dictator but Macron noted journalists should run the system.
Economic Stakes Drive Information Control
Billionaires exploited the row to call themselves free speech heroes while state leaders work on a strategy to handle the situation.
Attacks increased as France gave more help to Ukraine and military staff said that propaganda speed fluctuates alongside aid levels.
Prime Minister François Bayrou noted that software allows large scale manipulation while farmers opposed big trade deals with Mercosur states. Unions fear foreign food is unsafe so economic anxieties provide a method for operators to block trade.
Platforms Enable Industrial-Scale Deception
Tech firms exhibited an unhurried response to the coup video and Macron told newspapers that platforms mock the law.
Research found networks build new accounts quickly while the networks held power to make topics trend.
Who Benefits From Chaos
Macron personally endured harassment and lies about his wife so they filed papers to stop the rumours. Macron spoke of the struggle as the lies spread while Storm-1516 concentrated on divisive topics.
France is building a new defence strategy for the information war. Work finishes by the end of the year as officials finalise the new approach.
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