00:00French Municipal Elections Hit With Foreign Interference Allegations
00:07Following his defeat in the Toulouse Municipal Elections, François Picmal, the candidate from
00:13the left-wing France Unbound Party, has called for the vote to be voided and has also filed
00:18a criminal complaint citing alleged foreign digital interference. Earlier in March, Le
00:24Monde reported on a broader SMER campaign targeting several France Unbound candidates,
00:29including Picmal. France's Elections Coordination and Protection Network identified foreign
00:35interference operations linked to the 2026 Municipal Elections. Meanwhile, the country's
00:41foreign digital interference watchdog Viginium said these activities reflect a new type of
00:46coordinated online campaign involving networks with technical signatures linked to foreign actors.
00:53However, the agency added that the reach of the social media campaign appears to have been limited.
00:58Over the weekend of the second round of the election on the 22nd of March, further incidents were identified.
01:05Fake political ads using party slogans appeared on platforms such as the online marketplace Vinted,
01:11video game Candy Crush, sports betting sites and alongside the news outlet La Dépêche du Midi.
01:17According to Picmal's team, this campaign could have impacted the result of the votes.
01:40It's still yet to be determined if and how the disinformation campaign had any impact on the vote. At this
01:47stage, no official attribution has been made and most posts have been removed.
01:51An investigation is ongoing with no perpetrator identified so far.
01:55To be continued...
01:58To be continued...
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