Our work on the 2022 French election.
The French Election Project is the hub for identifying and analyzing information manipulation targeting France’s election, providing open source digital tools and assessments of France’s information ecosystem, and building awareness of foreign efforts to interfere in the election, as well as domestic challenges to democratic processes.
5 Takeaways from the 2022 French Presidential Election
On April 24, French voters re-elected Emmanuel Macron for a second term as president of France. With the presidential election firmly in the rear-view mirror and with the French parliamentary elections still several weeks away, this piece assesses t [...]
French Election Dashboard Toplines: April 11–17, 2022
Highlights The Russian Embassy in Paris was the author of nine of the top ten tweets by French-language Russian accounts last week. As in previous weeks, its messaging focused on the war in Ukraine and ignored domestic French politics.   Russian st [...]
The Integrity of French Elections Could Be on the Line This Sunday
French voters can be confident that no matter who they vote for in the second round of their presidential election, the process will reflect the will of the French people. But if they hope to have similar confidence in the integrity of future electi [...]
French Election Dashboard Toplines: April 4–10, 2022
Highlights The Russian Embassy in France attempted to deny and deflect after evidence of mass killings in Bucha shocked the French public last week. Top tweets by the embassy implied that the killings only surfaced days after Ukrainian troops took o [...]
Implementation and Impact of the RT and Sputnik Ban on French Online Ecosystems
A report from the Alliance for Securing Democracy and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue by Iris Boyer, Zoé Fourel, Sasha Morinière, Bret Schafer, and Etienne Soula. Introduction On March 2, 2022, Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik were [...]
Interference in the 2022 French Presidential Elections: Where Things Stand Ahead of the First Round
On Sunday, April 10, French voters will choose which two of the 12 presidential candidates will proceed to the second-round runoff. Most polls predict incumbent Emmanuel Macron to come in first, with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen or far-left can [...]
French Voters Should Consider Election Integrity Issues as They Vote in 2022
ASD's David Levine and GMF's Gesine Weber lay out four questions French voters should ask ahead of the presidential election. In its 2017 presidential election, France withstood one of the most significant efforts by the Kremlin to interfere in a [...]
Etienne Soula Analyzes the Rise of the Far-Right Ahead of French Elections on Newsy
Etienne Soula, research analyst with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, speaks to Newsy on the rise of the far right ahead of France's presidential election. [...]
Propaganda, Politics, and War: Information Manipulation in France’s Presidential Election
Speakers Iris Boyer, Advisory, Institute for Strategic Dialogue France Julien Nocetti, Associate Fellow, French Institute of International Relations Bret Schafer, Senior Fellow and Head of the Information Manipulation Team, Alliance for Securing Dem [...]
French Election Dashboard Toplines: March 14–20, 2022
Highlights Despite being less than a month away from the first round of the presidential election in France, the elections have received far less coverage in state-backed media outlets than the war in Ukraine and other topics. None of the top 10 key [...]
Kristine Berzina Discusses French Companies Continuing Operations in Russia Despite Sanctions on France 24
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used an address to France's parliament on Wednesday to call on French companies still working in Russia to "stop sponsoring" the Kremlin's aggression against his country. Kristine Berzina, Senior Fellow at the [...]
Russian State Media Ban: Making a Necessary Ban Sustainable
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shocked the European Union and its member states into decisive action. With Germany upending decades of foreign policy choices and unprecedented economic sanctions imposed on key parts of the Russian economy and l [...]