France: RSF files complaint for identity theft and deceptive commercial practices
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed a complaint before the Paris public prosecutor on 23 July 2024 concerning a smear campaign against the NGO, which was uncovered by RSF’s journalistic investigation.
The complaint RSF filed on 23 July marks the start of legal proceedings, as the Paris public prosecutor can now use their special legal powers to establish the chain of responsibility in a vast smear campaign that targeted RSF following the “Reporters Without Borders” ruling by the Council of State, France’s highest court, on 13 February 2024.
In the weeks that followed this decision, ordering the French audiovisual regulator to revise its control procedures regarding the principles of pluralism and independence by the TV channel CNews, RSF was subject to a smear campaign that reached unprecedented heights on both traditional media and social media.
In the context of this campaign, produced mainly by media controlled by the Bolloré group, and upon the completion of a journalistic investigation, RSF discovered that a communications agency called Progressif Media was creating a fake website using RSF’s name and logo. Documents seen by RSF, which are now in the hands of justice, detail the influence strategy used against the NGO, explicitly mentioning the creation of the fake website and many others as well as the purchase of domain names very similar to that of RSF. Progressif Media, which is 8.5% owned by the Vivendi group, shares an office space with a number of Vivendi’s other companies.
The complaint, filed on behalf of RSF by Clémence Witt and Simon Clémenceau from the Siano law firm, includes charges of identity theft, which is punishable under article 226-4-1 of the French Penal Code, and deceptive commercial practices, punishable under articles L. 121-4 and L. 132-2 of the French Consumer Code.
"A serious line has been crossed when it comes to weaponizing the media. The outlets of a corporate group aligned with the ideological and economic interests of its shareholder attacked an NGO not only acting within its rights, but endorsed by France’s highest court. The complaint shows that the press campaign coincided with an online disinformation campaign that sought to make people believe there was massive popular support for CNews. These kinds of tactics show that the Vivendi group is not like the other players in the audiovisual industry. Ultimately, the public is being deceived and democracy distorted. In order to repair the damage suffered and prevent these offenses from happening again, RSF has filed a complaint. It is now up to the courts to establish the magnitude of these manipulative acts, and to designate a chain of responsibility
RSF's investigation revealed that Progressif Media manages several X (formerly Twitter) accounts falsely presenting themselves as citizens' groups. Two particularly notable accounts were Fan de CNews, an account for “French citizens [...] of [all] political persuasions'' who felt CNews was “a media that respects [them] and respects the diversity of opinions,” and Les Corsaires, “cyber-militants in favour of freedom of expression.” According to RSF’s information, Progressif Media used these accounts to orchestrate massive advertising campaigns for CNews in order to discredit competing media — mainly public service media.
When questioned about Progressif Media’s practices of which it is a shareholder, the Vivendi group admitted to the newspaper Le Monde that its Canal+ branch, which owns CNews, had turned to this “agency specialising in e-reputations” and tasked it with “animating the social media communities to counter certain arguments about CNews,” as well as producing “a comparative study of the treatment of the media following the Council of State’s February decision.” The Vivendi group maintained that these were “standard brand and audience management practices,” and that it had no “knowledge of any illegal practices attributed to Progressif Media.”
