43 attempts at destabilization on social networks took place during the Paris Games, according to Viginum

The organization points out a desire to “damage the image and reputation of France.”

Several dozen foreign destabilization attempts have taken place on social networks in the context of the Paris 2024 Games, according to a report released this Friday by Viginum, the French organization fighting against foreign digital interference.

According to Viginum, between April and the end of the Paralympic Games on September 8, “43 informational maneuvers [ont] targeted the Paris 2024 Games, relying on different operating methods”. Viginum considers that the audience of the Paris Games, ““While largely positive, it has inevitably provided opportunities for malicious maneuvers by foreign information threat actors.”Half of these maneuvers took place during the competition, Viginum said.

In a report of around ten pages, made public on Friday September 13, the organization highlights destabilization maneuvers involving foreign actors. “They all highlighted a clear desire to exploit, in a planned or opportunistic manner, any event or current event linked to the Games.”especially for “damage the image and reputation of France by denigrating its capacity to host, organize and secure major international competitions” or even for “challenging universal and democratic values, while promoting alternative political models to international audiences”.

However, Viginum observes that “the maneuvers identified have, for the most part, struggled to obtain sufficient visibility in the French-speaking digital public debate, to produce real effects on the smooth running of events”.

The organization cites numerous examples of such destabilization attempts. For example, a few days before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, on July 26, a video published on X, Facebook and Telegram, showing an alleged Hamas member threatening the Games and France, and accusing the latter of supporting Israel and denouncing the participation of Israeli athletes in the competition, was attributed to Russia.

On the very day of the opening ceremony, Viginum also detected the dissemination, by pro-Iranian accounts, of visuals calling for a boycott of the Israeli Olympic team using the logo and graphic charter of the NGO Amnesty International. Earlier, on June 5, 2024, a video in Mandarin was disseminated on social networks with narratives hostile to the Paris Games and claiming that the Seine would be comparable to the Ganges in India. “filled with oil and waste”or that the air of Paris would be too “nauseating” for Olympic athletes. “Made using artificial intelligence, this video was broadcast on several Chinese video streaming platforms”explains Viginum.

The organization also points out the attempts at destabilization by the “decontextualization of videos”. Thus, from July 28, two days after the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, “several X-identitarian and ultra-conservative accounts have broadcast a decontextualized video showing ‘thousands of Christians’ who gathered in France to protest against the opening ceremony, deemed ‘anti-Christian’. However, this video had initially been shared on August 15, 2022 on the occasion of the Feast of the Assumption”.