Local French media outlets imitated as part of Russian propaganda strategy

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Local French media outlets imitated as part of Russian propaganda strategy  According to researchers, this web of sham outlets is likely being run by a known Russian propagandist John Mark Dougan, a former deputy sheriff from Florida who has lived in Moscow since 2016.   READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/12/03/local-french-media-outlets-imitated-as-part-of-russian-propaganda-strategy  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00Why are more and more fake local news outlets appearing online?

00:06A group of online outlets which look like local media are fooling internet users,

00:11posting articles of concerning headlines as well as spreading anti-Western narratives,

00:16while these websites are created by pro-Russian actors. Their names are similar to those of

00:20authentic news outlets and real news events are being spun through AI-scripted articles.

00:25Between January and September 2025, researchers from Recorded Future identified at least 200 new

00:32fictional media websites, which they attribute to Russia's Storm 1516 operation.

00:37Researchers warn that these sham outlets are likely being run by a man called John Mark Dugan,

00:42a former deputy sheriff from Florida who has lived in Moscow since 2016.

00:47Dugan was singled out as a key driver of disinformation ahead of Germany's federal

00:51elections in February. More than 140 of these sham news websites present themselves as French

00:57outlets. Media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders looked at 85 of these sites which

01:02are still active, and discovered 14,000 articles have been published since February.

01:07These websites' output has intensified as the year reaches its end,

01:11with more than 5,000 articles published since late October.

01:15Ahead of France's municipal elections, set to be held in 2026,

01:19Reporters Without Borders has warned of the need to monitor the situation.

01:22When we want to inform, in the ideal, what we try to achieve is an intermediary in which

01:28the public can have confidence, and the press, and particularly the regional press in France,

01:31has the confidence in the public. We know that elections form a fertile terreau for

01:36the informational attacks. From there, we take the alarm to say that there is a network

01:42that is active, and there are real risks for the access to information, the integrity of the information,

01:48and therefore, in fine, for the sincerity of the scrutiny.

01:51For Media Observers, it's key that outlets flag four stories and report them.

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