00:00French Municipal Elections Hit With Foreign Interference Allegations
00:07Following his defeat in the Toulouse Municipal Elections,
00:11François Picmal, the candidate from the left-wing France Embaude Party,
00:15has called for the vote to be voided and has also filed a criminal complaint
00:19citing alleged foreign digital interference.
00:22Earlier in March, Le Monde reported on a broader SMER campaign
00:26targeting several France Embaude candidates, including Picmal.
00:30France's Elections Coordination and Protection Network
00:33identified foreign interference operations linked to the 2026 Municipal Elections.
00:39Meanwhile, the country's foreign digital interference watchdog Viginium
00:43said these activities reflect a new type of coordinated online campaign
00:48involving networks with technical signatures linked to foreign actors.
00:52However, the agency added that the reach of the social media campaign
00:56appears to have been limited.
00:58Over the weekend of the second round of the election on the 22nd of March,
01:03further incidents were identified.
01:05Fake political ads using party slogans appeared on platforms
01:09such as the online marketplace Vinted, video game Candy Crush,
01:13sports betting sites and alongside the news outlet La Dépêche du Midi.
01:17According to Picmal's team,
01:18this campaign could have impacted the result of the votes.
01:40It's still yet to be determined if and how the disinformation campaign
01:44had any impact on the vote.
01:47At this stage, no official attribution has been made
01:49and most posts have been removed.
01:51An investigation is ongoing with no perpetrator identified so far.
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