The largest multi-sport event in the world, the Paris Olympic Games contribute to the cultural and economic influence of France. An exceptional spotlight, particularly exposed to disinformation campaigns. A week after the opening ceremony, the information threat still hangs over the competition. We take stock with Victor Chomel, associate researcher at the Institute of Complex Systems, a CNRS laboratory.
Since the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, several false information targeting the competition have gone viral on social networks. These fake news stories particularly target the opening ceremony, the water quality of the Seine and security in the capital. Their goal is simple: to denigrate France’s image internationally. To analyze the current state of this information threat, we receive Victor Chomela researcher at the Institute of Complex Systems, a CNRS laboratory. For several months, he has been closely following the disinformation campaigns launched against the Olympic Games on social networks.
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These Games are not immune to false information or the international geopolitical context. While the Olympic Committee (IOC) is trying to stay away from the war between Israel and Hamas, Internet users are not hesitating to divert sports images for propaganda purposes. This is what we are told Olivier Fourt, from the Info Verif cellin his column on the Underside of Fake News.