Fake eco-friendly site, photos generated by AI... The underside of an Iranian interference operation in France

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Cute animals on social networks, a great classic for getting clicks. But behind these accounts lies a vast Iranian interference operation. In any case, this is what a confidential report that “L’Œil du 20 Heures” obtained obtained.

In Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), in September 2024, a major summit will be held on the climate. Among the official partners on the event site, for a few days, is the logo of an information site: "Tired Earth", "exhausted earth" in French. Contributors to this site have been posting content on the climate or the planet for years. Cute animals, therefore, but also messages that violently attack France on social networks. And since October, they have focused on the violence surrounding the high school movement.

Are these accounts seeking to fan the embers of fractures in French society? A confidential report from the Viginum agency, consulted by France 2, describes the action as “foreign digital interference” and attributes it to Iran. According to Viginum, “Tired Earth” is actually a bogus site. Some of the articles were plundered from other media, such as an interview with sailor François Gabart taken word for word from the weekly Le Nouvel Obs. As for Brigitte Angelini, Rebecca Herbert or Malec Paoli-Devictor, who present themselves as Tired Earth collaborators, their profile photos are detected as generated by AI. We tried to contact them, without success.

The French government ready to take action

But a solar energy advocate spoke with them less than a year ago. “The person on the site started by commenting on my articles, then contacted me by private messaging, asking for my email address to send me questions. That's it, quite simply,” explains Richard Loyen, ENERPLAN union representative. The expert then agrees to an interview. Everything happens in writing, he has never met the journalist.

It was “L’Œil du 20 Heures” which told him that, according to Viginum, Iranians were behind the maneuver. “A site in French which offers environmental content, basically, is not suspicious. And I would not have suspected that, in quotation marks, it was a false nose in the service of a foreign power,” he admits.

Why create a fake environmental site? According to Viginum, it is a cover to be more credible. A journalist from a climate site would arouse less distrust than an outspoken defender of the regime of the Iranian mullahs. For this specialist, this sophisticated strategy is part of the information war waged by Iran. “Effectively, the Islamic Republic has designated France as an enemy. So, there is no doubt about the intentions of the Islamic Republic of Iran vis-à-vis France,” underlines Clément Therme, historian and specialist in Iran at the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier (Hérault).

When contacted, the Iranian embassy did not respond to our requests. As for the French government, it says it is ready to take measures against all hostile actions by the Iranian regime targeting us.