“We see foreign meddling, people who offer their own version of the facts, and users who contest the veracity of reports by well-established media outlets,” said Jonathan Deitch, Chief Executive Officer of Bakamo.Social, a consulting firm that estimates a quarter of the links shared on social networks about the French elections probably point to fake news. The report, based on 8 million links from 800 sites between November and April, showed as many as 50 percent of sources of fake news were linked to Russian websites or accounts.
France’s political establishment started expressing concerns that fake news might help propel Le Pen to a populist triumph months before the first round of the French vote on April 23. Voices amplified as Macron was hit by a fake news campaign earlier this year, and a U.S. senator accused Russia of trying to influence events in France among other places. Le Pen meanwhile is Russia’s favorite in the race, with many Russian officials regarding Macron as the candidate most hostile to their country’s interests.
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