Has PSG set up a “digital army” to discredit or influence personalities around the club on social networks? The online site Mediapart revealed, Wednesday, October 12, the existence of a series of fake Twitter accounts, created for this purpose, and orchestrated by the PSG communication department, via a communication agency. In a statement, the club denied “firmly“these accusations, claiming that he did not”never contracted with an agency to harm anyone“. But some members of this agency, contacted by franceinfo, say the opposite and contradict this version.
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This agency is Digital Big Brother, DBB, based in Barcelona, Spain, and owned by controversial businessman and influencer Lofti Bel Hadj. The members of DBB contacted by franceinfo confirm the information from Mediapart and invalidate the version of PSG. According to them, the capital club was indeed in contract with the company between 2018 and 2020. The contract was the subject of transfers, and most of this influence work was the subject of a report of activity that franceinfo viewed.
This fifty-page document attests to a commercial link between the two entities and the reality of DBB’s work for the club’s image. One of the members also specifies that this work was the subject of regular contact with members of the PSG staff. In fact, everything went through one man: Jean-Martial Ribes. At the time, he headed the communication department of PSG and was one of the very close collaborators of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, the president of the club. According to this employee, Jean-Martial Ribes made very regular points with the DBB company on the desired objectives and the bad buzz to be dealt with urgently. For the time being franceinfo has not succeeded in reaching Jean-Martial Ribes.
Between 2018 and 2020, employees posed as real club fans behind fake social media accounts, mainly Twitter. They used them to attack personalities, journalists or personalities from the world of football, to protect the image of the club. One of the fake accounts, notably the Paname Squad account, was the most active and influential. The objective of these accounts was to influence other accounts by relaying information, to light fires in an attempt to put an end to rumors around the club’s players.
In @lequipedusoir, we could see that Guy Roux got stuck in the 20th century. So @marquinhos_m5 would not have the right to attend the birth of his child on the pretext that no Guy Roux player missed a match for childbirth when he was a coach? https://t.co/Wr33jAAP6G
— Paname Squad ⭐️⭐️ (@PanameSquad) December 7, 2019
We can notably mention the striker Kylian Mbappé, but also the player Adrien Rabiot and his mother Véronique. This “digital army” also protected the reputation of Brazilian striker Neymar, caught in a rape case. She also attacked personalities outside the club, such as Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Olympique Lyonnais. Among the victims of these social media raids is Nelson. A Stade Rennais supporter, who was slapped by Neymar in the 2019 Coupe de France final. He was then targeted by a wave of hateful tweets, and today he decided to file a complaint. “He lived it in a rather tragic way“, says his lawyer Philippe Ohayon, who speaks of a “hurricane of insults“.
“Each of the insults was a little slap in the face, there are people who commit suicide following digital harassment.”
Philippe Ohayon, lawyerat franceinfo
He believes that the purpose of this wave of insults was “to prevent the victim from filing a complaint or to force him to retract“The facts revealed are, according to him, criminally reprehensible”a minimum of three years imprisonment“.”What is dramatic is that there are areas where people forget that the law exists”also laments Philippe Ohayon, adding that “people commit offenses in football that they would never have committed outside.“