Speaking on France 2 Wednesday, Barrot said foreign actors were recasting protest coverage for audiences abroad in an effort to tarnish France’s image.
Barrot said the movements originated in the United States, Israel and Russia, and sometimes China. He accused them of taking up protest images, altering and amplifying them, then presenting their own account of France. He also pointed to social media posts increasingly linking the demonstrations to mass immigration or radical Islam.
His remarks addressed how the demonstrations are portrayed abroad. President Emmanuel Macron had earlier said he saw no visible foreign interference in the Oct. 17 events themselves. He also said artificial intelligence had been used to create images depicting events that did not occur in France, in an earlier account of Macron’s remarks.
The two statements concern related but distinct issues: Barrot accused outside movements of shaping depictions of the protests, while Macron’s assessment addressed interference in the demonstrations themselves.
