Gabriel Attal, candidate for France's 2027 presidential election and leader of the Renaissance party, has filed a legal complaint over what he calls foreign interference originating from Russian networks, his lawyers said on Saturday.
Speaking on RTL on Thursday, Attal warned that the election could be distorted if nothing is done to protect it, accusing Russia of trying to steal the vote from French citizens.
Second wave of interference reported
Attal's lawyers, Sacha Ghozlan and Lucas Veil, said in a statement that after an initial report on Wednesday of external digital interference originating from Russia, state services informed Attal on Friday of a new interference operation on Thursday, again coming from Russian networks.
The complaint, filed in Paris on Friday evening, denounces acts of foreign interference, information manipulation and the fabrication of falsified content that could harm the fundamental interests of the nation and the integrity of the upcoming presidential election.
Deepfakes and fake front pages
Attal's lawyers said they had catalogued deepfakes, fake video reports and fake newspaper front pages circulating on social networks and platforms. They also identified material designed to sow confusion about the origin of the deepfakes, pointing at Attal himself to suggest he had orchestrated the disinformation campaign targeting him.
The lawyers said their client had been alerted by the SGDSN, France's General Secretariat for Defence and National Security, and specifically by its Viginum unit, which monitors and protects against foreign digital interference, about disinformation campaigns targeting him.
Aim to discredit him as a candidate
The lawyers said several X accounts, some impersonating French and international media outlets, had spread fake video reports and fake newspaper front pages using logos and graphic styles that imitate real media, attributing false statements, actions and public positions to Attal and those close to him in order to discredit him as a candidate.
A series of destabilization operations attributed to pro-Russian networks have targeted three declared or expected presidential candidates within a matter of days.
Other candidates targeted
Edouard Philippe of the Horizons party was the target of false claims about his health. Raphael Glucksmann of Place Publique was targeted through his partner, journalist Lea Salame, who was falsely accused of bribing media outlets to favor her husband's candidacy. Attal himself was falsely presented as potentially suffering from Parkinson's disease.
A security source said the operations had remained largely unnoticed, but they mark the first direct targeting of Elysee hopefuls since the start of the campaign. A judicial investigation has been opened into the suspected disinformation campaign targeting Glucksmann.
Government and opposition react
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Wednesday evening that the government had presented a bill to the Council of Ministers in late July toughening penalties for spreading false information.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of La France Insoumise, said on Thursday evening that the French presidential election had become an open bar for manipulators from around the world.
La France Insoumise candidates in the last municipal elections, in Marseille, Toulouse and Roubaix, had also been targeted, with suspicion pointing toward an Israeli company. The Paris prosecutor's office said on Thursday that the investigation into suspected interference affecting various municipal election candidates was still ongoing, with no new information to share at this stage.
Calls for tougher action
Part of the left believes the government is not going far enough and wants action against foreign platforms such as TikTok and X. Glucksmann has called on French and European authorities not to hesitate if sanctions against these networks become necessary.
Marine Tondelier, leader of the Ecologists, went further, proposing in an interview with Liberation that platforms like X be suspended in France during the campaign if interference is confirmed in advance.
The proposal drew an accusation of betrayal against France from X owner Elon Musk, who went as far as to call for her to be silenced on the platform.
