The disinformation has established itself as one of the most effective weapons in security operations. foreign interference. During electoral periods, these types of destabilization campaigns no longer surprise governments, however, the French authorities have detected for the first time a case directed against the 2026 municipal electionswhich will take place from March 15 to 22.
Until now, attempts at manipulation had been limited to major electoral events, but in a context of international tensions, where a new world order is emerging, the French security services have recently uncovered a network of Fake websites from South Asia what They attacked several candidates for mayor of Paris.
According to the investigation, these websites distributed through Facebook and other platforms, controversial and “very rubbish” content generated with artificial intelligence (AI)with the aim of generating clicks and controversy on the internet. Although the Ministry of the Interior did not want to give more details, the General Secretariat of Defense and National Security (SGDSN) confirmed in a brief statement that it is “a foreign digital interference operation specifically aimed at the 2026 municipal elections.”
The network was dismantled after detecting fake sites in several languages with “visibly lucrative and non-political objectives,” according to a security source confessed to the AFP agency. The authorities also geolocated several “troll farms” located in a South Asian country, “famous for this type of structures, but not known for spreading attacks against France.”
The surveillance and protection service against external digital interference (VIGINIUM) explained that this type of platforms worked in order to exploit certain sensitive issues related to municipal elections to polarize public debate.
Pierre-Yves Bournazel, object of Russian interference
It is not the first time that French politics has been the target of these attacks by foreign countries, such as RussiaIran or China. What is surprising is that the attacks target figures with less national projection.
This is the case of the candidate for the Paris municipal elections, Pierre-Yves Bournazelbelonging to the center-right party ‘Horizons’, whose campaign was the target of an attack focused on “discrediting its image”, as indicated by VIGINIUM. “During our investigation, we found a website that was impersonating the candidate’s official website,” they said.
“The research is still consolidating, but in general, this time there are very few domain names with a regional touch. These are mainly domains .fr generics,” a source from the state service explained to several local media. The investigations clearly pointed to the red rusa Storm-1516accused in the past of being behind numerous disinformation campaigns in France.
France, target of interference
The most controversial precedent on digital interference dates back to the 2017 presidential electionmarked by the massive leak of private emails from Emmanuel Macron after the hacking of the campaign team’s computers. Hundreds of documents came to light, including forgeries, accusing the future president of France of having secret accounts in the Bahamas. The authorities always suspected that Russian tentacles were hidden behind the scandal.
After that, Macron’s government decided to create VIGINIUM in 2021, a service to fight against growing foreign interference. Since then, its researchers have denounced more and more disinformation campaigns on social networks financed by foreign actors, even supported by ‘influencers’ to amplify political narratives or manipulate algorithms in order to make false content viral.
The last major case detected by this organization occurred during the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, where Chinese actors spread and amplified disinformation questioning the reliability of French fighter jets Rafale.
An almost invisible war in which the most powerful weapon is information. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, in 2024, 1,361 incidents related to this type of malicious actors, 15% more than the previous year. Adding to this concern is the data from a study by the audiovisual regulatory authority ARCOM, which reveals that four out of ten French people get their information daily through social networksoften through unofficial channels.
Disinformation campaigns that have been amplified, moving from general elections to Paris Olympic Games, situations of social revolts such as yellow vestsor the municipal elections of 2026.
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