Paris accused, Monday, November 13, actors linked to Azerbaijan of having led, at the end of July, a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging France’s reputation in its ability to host the next Olympic Games, which are due to take place. held from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
According to a report from Viginum, the organization fighting against foreign digital interference, which Agence France-Presse was able to consult, the investigations began on July 26 when “several visuals calling for a boycott of the Olympics”massively shared on the social network X (formerly Twitter), were detected.
The investigation was carried out in a context of diplomatic tensions between Paris and Baku. In recent months, France has been involved in mediation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics in conflict. France has also shown its support for Armenia, which fears a violation of its territorial integrity, a position which has earned it harsh criticism from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev.
“Featuring images of riots or the city of Paris, these publications also included the Olympic logo, three official JOP-24 X accounts and two hashtags #PARIS2024 and #BOYCOTTPARIS2024 on each content”details Viginum in its report.
On July 26 and 27, more than 1,600 posts accompanied by these visuals or hashtags were published on the platform. Some 91 accounts appear to be behind these posts, “suggesting artificial amplification”according to Viginum, an organization dependent on Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
Some of them present “inauthentic characteristics both in terms of activity and profile criteria”, it is specified in the report. Viginum thus determined that forty of them were created during the month of July 2023 and published “only content calling for a boycott” Olympic Games.
“Attack on the fundamental interests of the nation”
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that, of these 91 accounts, “a significant part has at least one link with Azerbaijan” : a photo including the flag of Azerbaijan or Azerbaijani places, a declared location in Azerbaijan, the presence of Azeri characters, or the promotion of videos or extracts of declarations from the Azerbaijani president.
Other “marker of inauthenticity”when an account was declared in France, spelling errors on the location suggesting that it is a literal translation from Azerbaijani into French, like Bordo for Bordeaux For example.
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Additional investigations also made it possible to identify an account at the origin of the publication of content targeting the holding of the Olympics on inauthentic and instantly taken over by X accounts linked to Azerbaijan, “reinforces the hypothesis of a coordinated maneuver”. Created in June 2023, the @MuxtarYevse account claims to be located in Azerbaijan. “The displayed name Muxtar Nagiyev as well as the photo in the account profile coincide with the identity of the chairman of the Sabail district organization of the Party of New Azerbaijan”party of President Aliev.
In addition, a video hostile to the holding of the Olympic Games drawing a parallel between scenes of riots and sports competitions was published on July 27 by the X account @NewYorkInsider, a fake news media. This video has been viewed millions of times, said Viginum, who sees in it a clear desire to damage the image of France.
On August 8, 2023, the @NewYorkInsider account had over 11,000 followers and 48 followings. Of these 11,000 subscribers, more than 7,000 were created after 1er July, and “the majority exhibit inauthentic characteristics”namely absence of subscribers, no publications, common characteristics in their usernames.
Viginum investigators also determined that other domain names appear for @NewYorkInsider, hosted on the same server, including the site orkhanrza.com which promotes Orkhan Rzayev, an Azerbaijani national who runs two companies: Eleven Kings and Mediamark Digital. The first company specializes in video games, and the second in digital marketing.
Viginum concluded that the Olimpiya campaign (“Olympics” in Azeri) “is likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation”.