The Trump administration has dismantled a number of U.S. government defenses against foreign disinformation campaigns. But the French government has been doubling down on its efforts to call out foreign propaganda efforts.
Some American conservatives believed the Biden administration tried to undermine, or even silence, Republican voices by falsely labeling conservative arguments as being pushed by Russia or another foreign power.
French officials said governments can call out malign influence campaigns at the same time as they protect speech, and they are trying to make the case with the public.
During the Biden administration, the United States and France collaborated closely, calling out Russian attempts to undermine the Paris Olympics last year. But the Trump administration rapidly began dismantling the parts of the government that warned the public about foreign campaigns, eliminating the F.B.I. team and shrinking an intelligence community center that tracked efforts by adversarial countries to manipulate U.S. elections.
The French government has continued to call out false or exaggerated reports that it believes are pushed by foreign governments. French officials have suggested Russia was behind pigs’ heads placed near mosques in the Paris area, in an attempt to cause unrest.
Ms. Caroit said the incident was amplified on social media by foreign powers. “It was done purposely so that people would react and think that it was some sort of Islamic attack, or some sort of anti-Muslim attack,” she said. “So there really is a manipulation of fact.”
Ms. Caroit, who visited the United Nations last week for talks on this issue and others, acknowledged the newly divergent French and U.S. approaches. But she insisted that allies could disagree, and where America was taking things apart on this issue, France would invest in new defenses.
This fall, the French foreign ministry began a program, called “French Response,” in which the ministry and its diplomats more aggressively call out disinformation and foreign influence campaigns.
Equally important, Ms. Caroit said, are efforts in elementary schools to help children become better at determining the origin of information, especially because most of them do not read traditional news sources.
Posted by John3262005