“A disinformation campaign.” This March 28, the Ministry of the Armed Forces denounced on Twitter a site that usurps his identity, to make people believe in the recruitment by France of soldiers destined for the Ukrainian front. A far from trivial scenario, a few days after Russia announced the sending of 2,000 French soldiers to Ukraine.
Once again, the information was firmly denied by the French government, citing “irresponsible provocations” from Moscow. “The URL of a site ‘Engage in Ukraine’ that uses the graphic letter of government sites is currently circulating about disinformation,” explains the Ministry of the Armed Forces in the message.
Recorded March 15
As noted by Tech&Co, the domain name (URL) for the site, called “Getting Involved in Ukraine,” was registered anonymously on March 15. Just a few hours later, Emmanuel Macron, in an interview, explained that he “took for granted” the possibility of sending Western soldiers to Ukraine, while stating that France “will not carry out an offensive.”
The fake Army recruiting site states that France is “recruiting and training 200,000 men to carry out operations in Ukraine.” Emmanuel Macron’s quote, “Russia must not win this war,” spoken a few hours before the domain name was registered, is written on the home page.
The site “Get Involved in Ukraine” also spreads false information about benefits for soldiers, such as “a 100% discount on funeral services”, a bonus “of 1 million euros to the family in case of death”, or even a salary bonus of “5000 gross euros per month”.
But the misinformation campaign does not end with the creation of this simple site. As Tech&Co was able to observe, the page in fact links to about 70 fake military profiles, with which it is supposedly possible to exchange to obtain information. They are all hosted on a French platform for meetings between professionals.
Promoted on Twitter
Additionally, forms are available that invite you to share your date of birth, email address, and phone number to be contacted for an interview. This suggests risks in terms of the reuse of this personal data by the people behind this fake site.
On social networks, in particular on Twitter, several pro-Russian accounts spread the address of the site in question, presenting it as an authentic site. Posts that have been viewed tens of thousands of times on the platform. The first retransmissions of this fake site came from fake news accounts.
What they all have in common is that they are subscribers to the paid version of Twitter, which allows them to display a blue badge and see their content promoted by the platform’s algorithm. An option desired by Elon Musk, periodically questioned for its use by accounts that spread misinformation.
Source: BFM TV
