French assessment says Israel-linked and MAGA accounts pushed hostile narratives during riots
Internal French and European Union reports found that accounts tied to Israel, the MAGA movement and a covert Russian network exploited France's October riots to push claims about Islamism, migration and a government that had lost control.
By Amir Navarro ·
Social media accounts linked to Israel and to America's MAGA movement amplified "hostile narratives" about the riots that swept France last month, tying the domestic turmoil to radical Islamism and migration, according to an internal assessment by France's Foreign Ministry seen by Reuters.
A separate internal European Union analysis concluded that a covert Russian network also sought to exploit the unrest, using social media to blame the violence on uncontrolled immigration and to portray the French government as having lost control. Taken together, the assessments show how outside actors tried to turn France's domestic crisis to their own political ends, according to European disinformation specialists. Reuters said it could not independently verify the assertions in either report.
The rioting erupted in cities across France in October, as demonstrations against rising living costs and declining public services spiraled into some of the worst violence the country has witnessed in decades.
The EU analysis, which covers the period from October 7 to 21, found that Russia sought to "depict the French leadership as weak and increasingly authoritarian." It identified a covert network known as Operation Overload, which spread videos impersonating Western media outlets to target French audiences, some falsely claiming that migrants had raped protesters or that terrorist attacks were imminent. The report found no evidence that Moscow or other actors had instigated or escalated the protests, describing the activity as "the opportunistic exploitation of unrest."
"Such events offer opportunities to undermine national governments, fuel fear and division, and shape public perceptions ahead of elections," said the restricted-circulation EU document, prepared by disinformation experts in the bloc's diplomatic service.
The French ministry's assessment focused on the reach of the narratives. The 10 most-viewed X posts on the unrest from "pro-Russian spheres" drew 2.8 million views from October 16 to 18. Those numbers were dwarfed by posts tied to the MAGA movement and to Israel: the 10 most-viewed posts by MAGA-linked officials, media outlets and influencers gained more than 49 million views in the same period, while the 10 most-viewed posts from Israeli officials, government accounts, media outlets and influencers exceeded 35 million, the report said.
Elina Treyger, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation think tank, said such campaigns wage a slow-burning "narrative competition" that over time can shape how Western democracies are seen in Europe and beyond. She said they feed an anti-immigrant backlash that is pushing European voters toward political extremes.
The EU report said Operation Overload, active since September 2023, has targeted Western "public figures, institutions, and media outlets" to discredit them and their support for Ukraine, including by claiming that European governments prioritize Ukraine over domestic issues. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a Britain-based think tank, last year called it "a persistent and high-volume Russian information operation" that impersonates trusted sources, uses artificial intelligence to clone experts' voices, forges newspaper headlines and manipulates images, and "pivots from country to country to exploit crises and debates." France's disinformation watchdog Viginum published a detailed report on Overload and similar Russian operations in 2024, and French officials have said they resurface during protests, elections or other opportunities to discredit the country.
Asked for comment, French officials referred Reuters to remarks by President Emmanuel Macron, who said on October 21 that there had been no visible foreign interference behind the protests, but that there had been "foreign manipulation of information." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and the Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment, and neither did the Russian Foreign Ministry. In August, Russian ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova rejected allegations by a French state watchdog that Russia was spreading disinformation about France's 2027 elections, saying they would "not be the last concoction which the authorities will use to manipulate public opinion."
