Covert Russian network exploited French riots on social media, EU report says

An internal EU assessment says a covert Russian influence network used France’s October unrest to amplify claims that uncontrolled immigration had caused the violence and that the government had lost control. The network, called Operation Overload, allegedly circulated fabricated videos impersonating Western news outlets, including false claims that migrants had raped protesters or terrorist attacks were imminent. The EU document says the effort also sought to portray French leaders as weak and authoritarian, deepen divisions, and argue that European governments put support for Ukraine ahead of domestic needs. It found no evidence that Russia or other foreign actors caused or escalated the protests, describing their activity as opportunistic exploitation.

A separate French foreign ministry assessment identified hostile narratives promoted by accounts linked to Israel and the US MAGA movement, which tied the unrest to radical Islamism and migration. For October 16-18, the ministry counted 2.8 million views for the ten most-viewed posts from pro-Russian circles, compared with more than 49 million for MAGA-linked accounts and over 35 million for Israeli-linked accounts. A RAND political scientist characterized these efforts as a longer-term contest to shape perceptions of democracies and feed anti-immigrant backlash. Reuters could not independently verify the assessments; French President Emmanuel Macron said there was no visible foreign interference behind the protests, but there had been foreign manipulation of information.