Foreign Interference in Municipal Elections
During the 2026 municipal elections, phenomena of distortion or manipulation of information aimed at influencing campaigns were locally observed.
Prior to the election, the agency combating information manipulations, VIGINUM, detected initial campaigns emanating from malicious Russian actors who aimed to discredit the election itself with fabricated and sensationalist content.
Subsequently, operations targeted specific candidates.
The Horizon candidate for mayor of Paris, Pierre-Yves Bournazel, was targeted by an interference operation seeking to discredit his image. Attributed by VIGINUM on March 6, 2026, to a known Russian network (Storm 1516), these operations followed a new foreign digital interference operation targeting the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in early February 2026, conducted by the same group and exploiting the Jeffrey Epstein affair to try to discredit the head of state.
Prior to and during the campaign, two candidates from La France Insoumise, Sébastien Delogu and François Piquemal, were also the target of a disinformation and denigration campaign, accusing them of rape and violence by an account named “Blog de Sophie” and relayed by accounts on Facebook and X. The individuals concerned filed defamation complaints. These operations also had a physical dimension with QR codes pasted on the posters of the Marseille candidate linking to defamatory content or anonymous emails sent to journalists in the region. VIGINUM revealed that the accounts used were inauthentic and displayed foreign markers, suggesting the possibility of foreign manipulation. While the authors are currently unknown, Le Monde suggests it could be a foreign company specialized in information manipulation, apparently conducting campaigns in Nigeria, Gabon, or in favor of Elnet, a pro-Israeli lobby.
Member of Parliament Éric Bothorel has referred the matter to ARCOM for suspicion of foreign interference targeting the X platform (formerly Twitter). Studies have shown that the platform’s algorithm heavily favored candidates on the far-right of the political spectrum. Thus, the Paris mayoral candidate, Sarah Knafo, reportedly enjoyed a much higher visibility than her opponents on this platform, due to a greater amplification of her content. These risks of manipulation also exist on Wikipedia. Pages dedicated to candidates have sometimes been the center of true battles, mostly led by candidates’ teams, to favorably modify their champion’s pages or unfavorably modify those of their opponents. Acting under pseudonyms, the authors are difficult to identify and foreign manipulations could easily slip into this practice.
Finally, the Mayor of Nice and candidate for reelection, Christian Estrosi, discovered on February 27, 2026, a pig’s head hung on the gate of his building, accompanied by an insult and a Star of David. He accused the far-right movement, which he associated with billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin, a claim the latter denied. While investigations suggest it could be an affair orchestrated by his own teams, to help or smear him, at this stage, it seems unlikely to be a foreign interference: nevertheless, the case reveals an evolution in political battles and media propaganda as it resembles the modus operandi of Russia’s interference operations in France in recent years. The confusion among voters and the political class can only increase with this type of manipulation, whether domestic or foreign.
