Was a viral video calling for the boycott of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games really published by a major American news outlet? That’s what a certain Twitter account is trying to portray.
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00:00 was a viral video calling for the boycott of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games published
00:05 by a major American news outlet. That`s what a certain Twitter account is trying to portray.
00:12 But who is really behind this anti-France propaganda campaign? Let`s find out.
00:22 A video juxtaposing promotional clips from the upcoming Paris Olympics with jarring images
00:27 of police violence in France has gone viral on the social media platform X, formerly known
00:33 as Twitter. The clip ends with a call to boycott the event, accusing France of human rights
00:39 abuses. As of the beginning of August, the video has gained more than five million views
00:43 on the platform. It was shared by a number of journalists and politicians, including
00:49 this French far-right MEP who accused the country`s president Emmanuel Macron of destroying
00:54 France`s reputation abroad. The video looks like it was posted by a major news organization
01:00 called New York Insider. It has the Twitter blue verified check mark, which can now be
01:05 bought by pretty much anyone as long as they pay a monthly fee. The profile links to a
01:10 website, newyorkinsider.net. At first glance, it seems to be a classic news site with many
01:17 articles covering sports, politics and business. But the first red flag we found is that all
01:23 of the articles are signed by a certain Michael. And most of the content has been copied and
01:28 pasted from other legitimate news organizations, such as, for example, the New York Times and
01:33 Huffington Post. When we checked who is behind the domain name, well, we found an anonymous
01:38 website registered in the U.S. but created only one month before the viral video was
01:43 posted, so quite recent. When running the domain name through this website, which could
01:48 show which other domain names are associated with it, it led us to the blog of an Azerbaijani
01:54 entrepreneur and owner of a communication agency that creates content for brands. In
01:59 particular, his business can write press releases in multiple languages directly published on
02:05 various websites, including the New York Insider. We reached out to the entrepreneur and he
02:10 insisted, we are not associated with any PR campaign related to the viral video. Neither
02:16 I nor my team have any involvement in its creation. However, this influence campaign
02:21 worked. The website New York Insider even bragged about it in this article, claiming
02:26 the clip took the Internet by storm, catching the attention of famous journalists and government
02:32 officials, shedding light on Emmanuel Macron`s alleged wrong political strategy. For more
02:38 fact checks and investigations, check out our website, Euronews.com.
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