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[Opinion] Various Facts, Health, Justice: the Multiplication of False Local News Sites as the Municipal Elections Approach Worries in France
3 Articles
3 Articles
The upcoming municipal elections are likely to be subjected to an informational war context with the proliferation of fake news sites to destabilize opinion.
As the municipalities of March 2026 approached, an army of fake local online media, doped to AI and linked to Russian and Chinese networks of influence were identified by researchers. Two recent studies warn about this phenomenon. The objective ? Fragment public opinion, create a climate of insecurity and destabilize the French government, considered too favourable to Ukraine, by taking advantage of the French's attachment to the local media.
They are called midi-pyreneesactualite.fr, lefocus-occitanie.fr, nouvelles-deshautsdefrance.fr, actu-auvergne-rhône-alpes.fr, actubretagne.fr or even echoronealpes.fr. Behind these more or less serious local news sites of appearance would hide a Russian network of influence, named CopyCop, according to a study by Recorded Future, an American cybersecurity company. "This study, consulted by the Agence de verification de Radio France, has identifi…
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Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Left, 50% of the sources are Center
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