The French foreign ministry on Tuesday denounced a “massive operation” of Russian interference in European digital media, which it considers part of Moscow’s “hybrid war”, through the publication of bogus articles and websites.
“The French authorities discovered the existence of a digital information manipulation campaign against France, involving Russian actors and involving state entities or entities affiliated to the Russian state, amplifying false information”said the spokeswoman for the foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, on Tuesday, quoted by the French news agency France-Presse (AFP).
In a statement read by the spokeswoman, the ministry accuses Russia of creating several websites for the media, as well as the State Department and other government websites that are practically the same as the official ones, Anne-Claire Legendre said.
“The involvement of Russian embassies and cultural centers, which have played an active role in strengthening this campaign, including through their institutional accounts on social networks, is yet another illustration of the hybrid strategy that Russia is implementing to overcome the conditions of the to undermine democratic debate”said the minister’s spokeswoman.
The operation unveiled by the government, which deviates from a usually cautious tone in attributing digital disinformation campaigns, is “the second phase of a well-known campaign, but with more sophisticated mechanisms of action, designed to evade countermeasures and be more stealthy”told AFP a security source involved in the case.
It concerns Operation Doppelgänger, documented as early as 2022 by the European organization EU DisinfoLab and the American giant Meta.
At the end of September, Facebook’s owner announced that it had dismantled a “covert influence” operation on its platform, originating in Russia, to increase the visibility of these articles from illegal sites, for which its promoters, two marketing consultants and information technology, had about $105,000 spent.
‘Meta expected her report to end operations, but it didn’t’explains the security source.
At least four French dailies – Le Parisien, Le Figaro, Le Monde and 20 Minutes – fell victim to the operation, but other major European media outlets were also targeted, particularly in Germany (FAZ, Der Spiegel, Bild, Die Welt, etc. .). ).
Hackers produced fake articles on a page completely identical to the official website of this media, but with a different domain name, for example .ltd instead of .fr.
The procedure is so sophisticated that by clicking on the hyperlinks containing the articles, it is possible to access the other articles in the actual newspaper, a practice known as “typosquatting”.
The conflict in Ukraine plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have admitted it will be high.
In addition to supplying weapons to Kiev, Western allies have imposed economic sanctions on Russia to try to reduce its ability to finance the war effort.
Source: DN
