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Russia behind fake news bot campaign to empower French far right

A fake website mimicking Emmanuel Macron’s party, Ensemble, claimed the president and his party were buying votes for €100 ahead of the election

Analysis of a range of sources reveals a co-ordinated campaign of disinformation that has smeared Mr Macron, while promoting Eurosceptic far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, who have voiced opposition to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Facebook parent company Meta approved and delivered to thousands of French accounts ads calling to vote for far-right candidates on Sunday, with xenophobic and anti-EU narratives, which also linked to spoofed domains impersonating news media, according to AI Forensics. According to Russian bots, Taylor Swift has called the upcoming Olympics in France a political and shameful project, Beyoncé said Macron is a puppet controlled by other countries and Elton John thinks the “EU is crumbling.”

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