France reveals the activity of a pro-Russian propaganda network

After cyberattacks, here comes cyberpropaganda. The State revealed on Monday the dismantling of a very structured network which disseminates Russian propaganda in France.

The State has just exposed, Monday February 12, a propaganda network, named “Portal Kombat”, in reference to the video game Mortal Kombat, which has several objectives, such as legitimizing the war in Ukraine, sowing trouble in the organization of the Olympic Games, or, more generally, to destabilize France. This network relies on social networks, websites and forums. These three tools make it possible to spread disinformation and above all to amplify all the messages, all the content, which could serve the cause of those who direct it.

Fortunately, “Portal Kombat” is closely monitored by Viginum, the vigilance and protection service against foreign digital interference. It was created in 2021 after the assassination of Samuel Paty and the campaign “anti-French” who had followed on the Internet. Viginum’s mission is to alert when foreign actors try to shape opinion for their own interests, when there are signs of cyberpropaganda.

Russia behind “Portal Kombat”

Russia is therefore very active at the moment in France, and even in Europe, since it is a network of at least 193 sites which has just been exposed in a report, with ramifications in Germany, England or in Spain. The entire network visibly seeks to legitimize the war in Ukraine, by directly targeting countries that support Volodymyr Zelensky.

To carry out this cyberpropaganda, the network’s sites republish content from Russian or pro-Russian actors in the language of the target country. This allows them to go higher in search engines and the network also uses bots to promote what is published on social networks. In total, more than 150,000 articles were listed. According to the report, influence in France remains limited so far. In particular thanks to the weighting techniques of social networks and search engines which favor well-established information sites, but this requires us to remain vigilant and pay attention to what we read on the Internet.