Yellow Vests Flooded by Fake News Over 100M Views of Disinformation on Facebook

YELLOW VESTS FLOODED BY FAKE NEWS OVER 100M VIEWS OF DISINFORMATION ON FACEBOOK

Avaaz calls on Facebook to Correct the Record ahead of EU Elections -- with an in-depth study showing how fake news surrounding the Yellow Vests reached over 100 million views, and how Russia fueled the divide.

12/03/2019 - Avaaz Report YELLOW VESTS FLOODED BY FAKE NEWS OVER 100M VIEWS OF DISINFORMATION ON FACEBOOK

12/03/2019 CONTENTS

1) The Summary - What the study shows 6

2) The Data - 105M views of fake news 8

3) The Stories - 6 case studies 10

4) The Methodology - How the study was done 18

5) The Russia Effect - RT France dominates the YouTube debate 20

6) The Solution - Correct The Record 26

Annex - 100 Fake News Table 32

5 1 THE SUMMARY - WHAT THE STUDY SHOWS

This new in-depth study by the global citizens’ or factually incorrect posts. Furthermore, the movement Avaaz shows for the first time the findings shine a light on the increased efforts from unprecedented scale at which the Yellow Vest Russian state media, RT France, to fuel the protests. movement has been impacted by disinformation. The research was carried out by a team of According to its findings, fake news surrounding investigative reporters, researchers and data the French Yellow Vest movement has reached an analysts set up by the global citizens movement estimated 105 million views on Facebook alone, in a Avaaz to detect and deter disinformation ahead country with just over 35 million Facebook monthly of the European elections. It shows clearly that active users1. Facebook and other platforms’ responses to The research analyzed social media posts over a five disinformation in Europe are ineffective and pose month period - between November 2018 and March a serious threat to healthy public discourse and 2019 - and focused mainly on Facebook, where most democratic stability, especially in light of upcoming of the Yellow Vest social media interaction took EU elections in May. The report concludes by place. It took into account the top known 100 fake calling on platforms to work with fact-checkers to news stories circulating in the French Yellow Vest Correct The Record for everyone exposed to false movement, all of which were fact-checked by French or misleading content, as an emergency measure or international media. The selected stories are ahead of the elections. mostly malicious, made-up, purposefully misleading

The study shows:

JJ Disinformation in Yellow Vest Facebook • an image of a Yellow Vest protest in Paris, groups and pages reached over 105 million with a caption alleging that the image had views and over 4 million shares in the time been censored on Facebook or elsewhere; between November 1, 2018 and March 6, 2019. Le Monde fact-checkers debunked the claim that the photo or the caption were deleted JJ The 100 most viewed fake news stories (349,403 shares, 8,967,432 est. views) analyzed in this report include: JJ RT France’s overwhelming dominance of • a post with images including bleeding the French debate about the Yellow Vests ‘Yellow Vest protesters,’ which media and on YouTube: Research focusing on the 500 government allegedly hid from the public top YouTube results shows that Russia’s state - when some of the photos were actually media was the most viewed channel for videos taken at different protests near Madrid or related to the Yellow Vest movement in France in Catalonia (136,818 shares, 3,511,456 est. and accumulated over 2 times as many views views) as Le Monde, L’Obs, Le Huffington Post, Le • a video of French President Macron Figaro and FRANCE 24 combined. dancing in the Middle East “while France JJ How Avaaz’s policy proposal “Correct the suffers,”when the video was actually taken Record” could function as a deterrence for over a month before, during the Summit far-spreading fake news, by requiring that for the Francophonie in Armenia (183,390 Facebook and other platforms work with fact- shares, 5,700,000 views) checkers to issue corrections to all users who have been exposed to disinformation.

1 https://www.lejdd.fr/Medias/Internet/il-y-a-plus-de-35-millions-dutilisateurs-de-facebook-en-france-3850928

6 7 2 Figure 2.2 -- Top 100 most viewed fake news by topic, Nov. 1, 2018 - Mar. 6, 2019 THE DATA - 105M VIEWS OF FAKE NEWS FAKE NEWS AND THE The key focus of the study is the world’s biggest Table 2.1 below shows the 20 most viewed fake Fake Gerard Lanvin letter social media platform Facebook, by far the most news stories for the period between November FRENCH YELLOW VESTS popular online network used by the Yellow Vest 1, 2018 and March 6, 2019. Figure 2.2 shows all movement2. We examined posts shared by pages, 100 most viewed fake news as an infographic, Each circle is one piece of “fake news” - size is equal to the total number of groups and profiles associated with the movement segmented by topic. The entire list of the 100 most Facebook “censors” and limited our analysis to posts containing text, viewed fake news can be found in the Annex. As estimated views a Yellow Vests picture images, and videos. stated above, all of the analyzed fake news have been fact-checked by French or international media.

Table 2.1 -- 20 Most Viewed Fake News Content, Nov. 1, 2018 - Mar. 6, 2019

NAME OF VIDEO VIEWS SHARES FAKE NEWS FACT-CHECK

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1136704289828258/ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A66kHxLLAA5l1J0-d_ybp- Yellow Vests protest picture being deliberately deleted by Facebook 8,967,432 349,401 permalink/1144241582407862 r074KJWU8o/view?usp=sharing

https://web.archive.org/web/20181210110228/facebook.com/ https://factuel.afp.com/non-gerard-lanvin-nest-pas-lauteur-dune- photo.php?fbid=10217401146005830&set=a.10201689078253956&- lettre-ouverte-anti-macron-tres-virale-sur-facebook Fake Gerard Lanvin letter 6,467,620 252,000 type=3&theater Fake pictures of police violence https://www.facebook.com/pat51343/videos/ https://observers.france24.com/fr/20181203-emmanuel-macron- vb.100007099055800/2072455656334383/?type=2&video_ danse-il-alors-mouvement-gilets-jaunes-debute Macron dances while France is protesting 5,700,000 183,392 source=user_video_tab

Macron dances while France is protesting (2nd post) 4,944,624 192,659 https://www.facebook.com/yann.juarez/posts/2850952611587557 https://twitter.com/AfpFactuel/status/1066992424361312256 Fake photo of police support https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1969051696548925&set= https://twitter.com/AfpFactuel/status/1066818934664511489 Police allegedly supporting Yellow Vest protesters 4,619,857 180,005 pb.100003323406258.-2207520000.1544447688.&type=3&theater for the Yellow Vests

https://observers.france24.com/en/20181129-debunked-videos- https://www.facebook.com/snoirotetthielen/posts/1971636099572802 Fake police violence pictures 3,511,456 136,818 yellow-vests-france-protests

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/herault/montpellier/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/283520695621830/ herault-melenchon-victime-infox-confond-frontignan-bordeaux-chal- Video of police officers taking off their helmets - Montpellier 4,468,048 174,090 permalink/293590931281473 eur-soutien-1579669.html Figure 2.3 -- Views of the top 100 fake news by topic, Nov. 1, 2018 - Mar. 6, 2019

https://www.facebook.com/djohn.attend.5/ https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2382079-20181128-video-gilets- Disobedience call from an alleged policeman 3,900,000 248,867 videos/2139730536342642/ jaunes-policier-vraiment-publie-videos-soutien-mouvement

(need to be a member of the group to see the post) from an old 2016 video: https://www.youtube.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/298362254331895/ watch?v=qNvdpPHzniY Outdated police violences and allegedly being erased 3,516,127 137,000 permalink/317972172370903 FRENCH YELLOW VEST

https://www.facebook.com/Bassiste.de.Fanatic.Control/videos/ https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes-demeler-le-vrai-du-faux-de-trois- France 3 TV intentionally censoring journalist 3,700,000 119,059 vb.1234098273/10217681408767031/?type=2&theater jours-de-mobilisation-0 FAKE NEWS DATABASE BY

https://factuel.afp.com/hors-contexte-anciennes-ou-faussement- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=348619922581785 Police beating students (outdated) 3,600,000 161,862 legendeestoutes-les-images-de-violences-en-marge-du-mouvement ESTIMATED VIEWS AND TYPE

http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/gilets-jaunes-les- https://www.facebook.com/nicole.guegan.735/ mercenaires-de-macron-et-autres-intox-qui-pullulent-sur- Macron hired mercenaries; secret services support Yellow Vest protests 3,500,000 135,169 videos/2709389059285694/ facebook-05-12-2018-7961382.php Each circle represents one piece of fake news labeled by

https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.e.dupouy/ https://factuel.afp.com/la-police-bordeaux-retire-son-casque-en- Police officers taking off their helmets - Bordeaux 3,300,000 121,983 videos/10218125252782142/ soutien-aux-gilets-jaunes-une-interpretation-douteuse keywords; filtered to show content with >2,500,000 views

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/12/06/vendre-la- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=361553517934236 france-a-l-onu-de-donald-trump-aux-gilets-jaunes-l-itineraire-mondial- UN is planning the replacement of European population by migrants 2,000,000 72,457 d-une-intox_5393268_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2018/12/06/vendre-la- https://www.facebook.com/romeo.piacquaddio/ france-a-l-onu-de-donald-trump-aux-gilets-jaunes-l-itineraire-mondial- videos/1430180387116830/ Marrakech Pact conspiracy 3,100,000 108,617 d-une-intox_5393268_4355770.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/12/30/quels- https://www.facebook.com/groups/310403819778193/ pays-europeens-remunerent-le-mieux-leurs-elus_5055895_4355770. permalink/342917016526873 Untrue claim that French MPs salary higher than in Germany 2,406,288 93,757 html

https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/faits-divers-justice/fausse-video-de- post has been deleted but screenshot shared here by AFP on twitter: l-agression-d-un-handicape-a-quimper-le-prefet-du-finistere-porte- https://twitter.com/AfpFactuel/status/1064287475886112768/photo/1 Picture of rugby supporters used for illustrating YV protest 2,277,655 88,745 plainte-1542826305

https://www.facebook.com/groups/310403819778193/ https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-presidente-croate-na-pas-vendu-lavion- Croatia president giving up her presidential plane 1,918,240 74,741 permalink/332905080861400 presidentiel-et-baisse-son-salaire-de-30

https://www.facebook.com/gjpourlepeuple/ https://factuel.afp.com/des-policiers-visent-deliberement-ce-gilet- Police intentionally throwing a grenade at a protester 1,600,000 57,807 videos/290734811786372/ jaune-avec-une-grenade-la-police-et-le-manifestant-ne

1 https://jean-jaures.org/nos-productions/en-immersion-numerique-avec-les-gilets-jaunes

8 9 3 This chapter presents brief case studies of some THE STORIES - of the most shared and viewed fake news from our research3. Every item has a summary of the fake news, its reach and verification of the events 6 CASE STUDIES depicted by the posts.

1 POLICE BRUTALITY, CONTEXT MANIPULATION Below are two examples of where some of the images originally came from: POLICE BRUTALITY AT YELLOW VEST PROTEST LEAVES PEOPLE BLEEDING

FAKE NEWS: A Yellow Vest supporter shared a collection of images of people, supposedly showing them as Yellow Vest protesters who are victims of French police brutality, with a caption that reads “the media and the government of Macron have hidden the images of peaceful protesters beaten by the CRS” (the general reserve of the French National Police).

REACH: The post quickly went viral on Facebook and reached 136K shares and over 3.5M estimated views by March 6, 2019.

VERIFICATION: The post was made up of several photos taken at different protests, cities, countries and events around the world, yet suggested they were all the result of French police brutality toward the Yellow Vest movement. For instance, the image of the young woman bleeding was from a Coal Mining protest in Spain back in July 11, 2012. The one from the older woman bleeding was taken at a Catalonian protest on September 11, 2017. “Miners clash with police while demonstrating in Madrid.” Facebook has recently added below the post This Getty Images caption shows that the photo was related content articles from Observers France 24 actually taken near Madrid, Spain on July 11, 2012. and AFP that explain the misuse of such images.

This AFP Factuel post reads, “The third image of an older lady with a bloodied face has been shared around social networks during the autumn 2017 Catalan referendum.”

3 Screenshots were taken November 2018 - March 2019.

10 11 2 ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT, CONTEXT AND DATE MANIPULATION 3 CENSORSHIP MACRON DANCES WHILE FRANCE SUFFERS THE YELLOW VEST MOVEMENT IS BEING CENSORED

FAKE NEWS: This video was posted on Facebook FAKE NEWS: This post was published on November VERIFICATION: The post is still available on the on November 17, 2018, the day the first Yellow 25, 2018, with the caption “this picture has just platform and as fact-checkers from Le Monde have Vests protests happened. The video depicts been erased, share massively,” insinuating that the said, “this image taken by photographer Olivier Coret President Macron and his wife dancing to Middle content had been censored. has been used to illustrate many online publications Eastern-sounding music at a gala event with the that have not been censored on Facebook or caption, “And while France is suffering,” insinuating REACH: When first published with the censorship elsewhere. [...] the very fact that this photo was Macron was “partying” while French citizens were accusations, massive sharing started and by March published on November 25 and is still available […] protesting. 6, 2019, it reached over 349K shares, leading to over proves that there was no censorship.” 8.9M estimated views. The image, with the false REACH: The video went viral within days, reaching caption, was still available at the close of this study. 5.7M views and over 183K shares by March 6, 2019.

VERIFICATION: The original video was published a month before the first Yellow Vest protests happened, on October 11. It was recorded during the International Organization of the Francophonie summit in Armenia. Media outlets published several articles explaining the manipulation of dates and context. At time of publication, Facebook still had not issued a related article below the video or provided further information.

12 13 4 CONSPIRACY THEORY, POLITICAL NEWS MANIPULATION 5 ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT SUPPORTED BY PUBLIC FIGURES MACRON IS SELLING FRANCE AFTER SIGNING THE MARRAKECH PACT GERARD LANVIN, A FAMOUS FRENCH ACTOR, PUBLISHED AN OPEN LETTER AGAINST MACRON AND HIS GOVERNMENT

FAKE NEWS: A man named Romeo Piacquaddio recorded himself in early December 2018 describing an extremely important message he received on his phone. He plays the audio of an unidentified woman warning that Macron was going to “sell France by signing the UN migration pact on December 10.” The female voice then claimed that after signing this treaty, Macron would resign and that the Yellow Vest movement would be used as a cover up.

REACH: The video was shared 108K times and reached over 3.1M views by March 6, 2019. Disinformation about the Marrakech UN Migration Pact, warning of alarming mass migration into France, was shared across multiple Yellow Vest groups, including by Maxime Nicolle, one of the leaders of the movement.

VERIFICATION: Articles by multiple newspapers, such as Le Monde, have since refuted claims that the treaty would lead to open borders or that countries would be forced to change their migration policies. The controversy started spreading in France in early 2018 when extreme right pages such as Breiz Atao and Polémia began sharing the content. By late November, the topic FAKE NEWS: On December 8, 2018 a letter allegedly people. The first post spreading the disinformation became popular in the Yellow Vest groups. written by French actor Gérard Lanvin, criticizing has been removed by Facebook, but variations of President Macron and his government, was shared the same content (1, 2, 3) can still be found without widely on social media. It strongly condemned any alert from the platform. public officials as well, saying that people who “from birth to death live off of public funds, enjoy special social security benefits and are exempt from taxes, should at least have the decency of not talking about equality.”

REACH: In less than 48 hours, this post was shared over 251K with over 6.4M estimated views. The same post, or similar variations, were shared on different pages and groups on Facebook (see screenshot at right).

VERIFICATION: The letter shared was not written by Gérard Lanvin. The actor claimed he was a victim of identity theft and has since reported the incident to the authorities. The fake news took excerpts of a real letter published in 2013 by the actor, originally addressed to then President François Hollande, around a controversial income tax for wealthier

14 15 6 POLICE BRUTALITY AND ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT A MOTHER IN THE NETHERLANDS IS ARRESTED BECAUSE SHE REFUSED TO TAKE OFF HER YELLOW VEST.

FAKE NEWS: The video was first shared by “Pegida Nederland.” It was filmed in the Netherlands and the caption says, that the police arrests a lady with a stroller because she refused to remove the yellow vest.

REACH: The video was quickly translated to French, English and Italian. The English version alone received 32K shares, and an estimated 1.3M views, by March 6, 2019. Many comments expressed outrage over the perceived police brutality directed toward a woman with a child, and interpreted the incident as an attack on freedom of expression.

VERIFICATION: According to AFP, the woman in the video had raised the suspicion of police forces because she was walking with a doll in a stroller, not with a baby, and once she wasn’t able to prove her identity, she was detained, which is in accordance to Dutch law.

16 17 4 The 100 fake news stories we selected are mostly malicious, made up or factually OUR METHODOLOGY incorrect posts. But they also include purposefully misleading content that is either out of date, is taken out of context, or its content is regarded as either factually uncertain and at least partially inaccurate. As stated above, all of them Facebook has long been criticized for the lack of transparency it provides to fact- have been fact-checked by French or international media. checkers, governments, media and the wider public about the spread of content. However, Avaaz’s team of data scientists and researchers used a combination of JJ VIEWERSHIP CALCULATION FOR FAKE NEWS VIDEOS: Our fake news selection Facebook’s public data, analytics tools like CrowdTangle, fact-checks by French and contained 37 examples of fake news video content accumulating to a total of international media and statistical modeling to arrive at what we believe provides a 42,777,224 views and 1,666,743 shares. We followed Facebook’s definition of what 4 credible and conservative picture of the reach and impact these fake news stories constitutes a “view,” that is, a viewing experience that lasts 3 seconds or longer . have had in France. JJ VIEWERSHIP ESTIMATION FOR IMAGES AND TEXT: Facebook discloses the number of views for videos, but for posts containing only text and image content JJ TIME FRAME: The first national Yellow Vest movement demonstration was on the platform displays only the number of shares and other interactions, such as November 17, 2018. However, many of the Facebook groups and pages at the core of likes or comments. Therefore, in order to estimate viewership for text and image the movement were created weeks earlier. For this reason, we focused our Facebook content we designed a metric based on the publicly available statistics of the research on content created between November 1, 2018 and March 6, 2019. Facebook videos analyzed in our study, taking into account the total number of video views and dividing it by the total number of video shares. Facebook reports J A number of analyses and media reports have shown strong evidence that J SCOPE: a “video view” only after 3 seconds, while an image or text can be considered as Facebook was by far the most popular social media platform used by the Yellow Vest “viewed” and having an actual impact in less than 3 seconds (e.g. just scrolling by movement participants. We examined social media posts shared by pages, groups and an image of a bleeding woman, police brutality or claims of censorship). Therefore, profiles associated with the movement and limited our analysis to posts containing the estimation of total views in this study is very likely lower than the actual total text, images and videos while excluding links to outside content. viewership of all content and therefore is to be seen as a conservative figure.

JJ TOTAL NUMBER OF FAKE NEWS VETTED, SHARES, AND VIEWS: JJ ENGAGEMENT RATE CALCULATION FOR IMAGES AND TEXT: As laid out above, the metric to estimate the views of images and text is based on the “average Yellow Vest fake viral content engagement rate” (from now just “YV engagement FAKE NEWS POSTS SHARES VIEWS rate,” with YV standing for Yellow Vests), which is calculated by using the available

video data with the following formula: VIDEOS 37 1,666,743 42,777,224 YV engagement rate = (YV video views/YV video shares) IMAGES & TEXT 63 2,438,894 62,594,602 (est.) Based on the 37 fake news videos in our database, the average YV engagement rate is:

TOTAL 100 4,105,637 105,371,826 (est.) 42,777,224 video views / 1,666,743 video shares = 25.6651589 views/share

The average YV engagement rate is then multiplied for the number of shares of JJ FAKE NEWS SOURCES AND SELECTION CRITERIA: We used three different strategies posts for which views are not provided by Facebook (containing images and text). to identify the fake news for our analysis: a) We collected all the Yellow Vest-related fake news reported by the main fact-checking websites in France (including but not YV engagement rate * YV image and text shares = estimated YV image and text views limited to: AFP Factuel, 20 Minutes, Les Décodeurs and Checknews); b) Using the The total number of estimated views for posts containing images and text are: analytics tool CrowdTangle, we selected 198 public groups and pages used by the Yellow Vest movement and scrutinized their posts to identify fake news; and c) We 25.6651589 views/share * 2,438,894 shares = 62,594,602 total estimated views added the fake news from Le Monde’s own research based on another group of 204 Yellow Vest Facebook groups from October 31 to January 22. Out of those, we selected Therefore, the total number of views ( video views + estimated views for image and text) is: the 100 most shared posts among the fake news we had identified. 62,594,602 video views + 42,777,224 est. image and text views = 105,371,826 est. views JJ CATEGORIES OF FAKE NEWS INCLUDED IN THE STUDY: We included in our study content that falls within the definition of disinformation as articulated by the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation: “verifiably false or misleading information All the posts mentioned in this research were active and available as of March 6, which, cumulatively, (a) ‘Is created, presented and disseminated for economic gain or to 2019 or screenshots of the original posts together with data on shares and views intentionally deceive the public’; and (b) ‘may cause public harm’, intended as ‘threats were provided and can be found in the annex. to democratic political and policymaking processes as well as public goods such as the protection of EU citizens’ health, the environment or security.”

4 https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Coming-Soon-Video-Metrics

18 19 5 THE RUSSIA EFFECT - RT FRANCE Figure 5.1 -- Top 20 channels publishing Yellow Vest content, ordered by number of views DOMINATES THE YOUTUBE DEBATE and based on the 500 most relevant Yellow Vest videos, Nov. 1, 2018 - Mar. 7, 2019

FRENCH YOUTUBE CHANNELS WITH THE A second part of the report focused on YouTube, HIGHEST NUMBER OF VIEWS and two datasets were analyzed. Based on the 500 most relevant videos for the search query “Gilet Jaune” The first one looked at the 500 most relevant Yellow Vest videos after September 2018 according to the YouTube algorithm when running a search query for “Gilets Jaunes” both for the French language and for the French region code. Although this dataset only allows a partial picture of total views for each channel, being based only on the top 500 videos, it allows us to assess the biggest channels producing the most relevant Yellow Vest content and their relative strength on YouTube. The second dataset was obtained by querying RT France’s channel and other mainstream media channels - Le Monde, L’Obs, FRANCE 24, Le Figaro, LeHuffPost - using the YouTube API, and filtering the data to retain only videos uploaded after September 2018 with the search query “Gilets Jaunes.” This allows a much more precise comparison of their viewerships. The results from both datasets are overwhelmingly clear: RT France is the most viewed channel on videos related to the Yellow Vests in France and accumulated more than twice as many views (23,1M) than Le Monde, L’Obs, FRANCE 24, Le Figaro, LeHuffPost combined (10,9M). According to the US Director of National Intelligence, RT (Russia Today) is “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet” and “contributed to the influence campaign” of the 2016 US elections5. In the US, RT has been suspended by Twitter from ad-buying in the fall-out from the US elections due to their clear bias6. YouTube rolled out a feature in the US in 2018 informing users if they’re watching a video from an organization that receives funding Another observation from Figure 5.1, is that alternative media, YouTuber and citizen from a government. At the close of this study, journalists, including a few channels featuring conspiracy theories, have more we have not found that such notifications were visibility on YouTube than most of the traditional media, many of which are not even shown to YouTube users in Europe, nor do we have featured in the top 20. indications that this will be implemented in Europe ahead of the EU elections in May7.

5 https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf 7 https://youtube.googleblog.com/2018/02/greater- transparency-for-users-around.html 6 https://www.npr.org/2017/10/26/560199026/twitter- ends-russian-state-media-advertisements-citing-2016- interference-efforts?t=1552208868105

20 21 RT France’s dominance is even more clear when looking at the number of videos As mentioned above, to further study RT France’s content and publishing uploaded on Yellow Vests. Among the top 500 YouTube results, the Russian state behavior, we queried RT France’s YouTube channel using the YouTube API. The media has 3 times more videos (101) than the second biggest publisher (Le original dataset contained 17,340 observations (videos) between September 2014 Media - 30) and more than the next 7 channels cumulatively (100). and March 2019. As a first step, we filtered the data to retain only observations uploaded after September 2018. This second dataset strengthens our analysis. 18 out of the 20 most viewed Figure 5.2 -- Top 20 channels publishing Yellow Vest content, ordered by number of videos on RT France’s YouTube channel since September 2018 are about the videos uploaded and based on the 500 most relevant Yellow Vest videos, Nov. 11, 2018 Yellow Vests. The following graph shows these top 20 videos by view count. The - Mar. 7, 2019 orange bars are Yellow Vest-related videos.

Figure 5.3 -- Top 20 RT France’s videos by view count Sep. 1, 2018 - Mar. 6, 2019 FRENCH YOUTUBE CHANNELS WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF UPLOADED VIDEOS 18 OUT OF 20 OF RT FRANCE’S MOST VIEWED YOUTUBE VIDEOS ARE ABOUT THE YELLOW VESTS

Top 20 videos by view count since September 2018

22 23 RT FRANCE’S VIDEOS ABOUT THE YELLOW VESTS MARSHALED THE MOST VIEWS RT France has massively invested in coverage of the Yellow Vest protests, including hour-long live coverage videos, and as a result, dominated the debate about Based on each channel’s videos published since September 2018 Yellow Vests on YouTube in France more than any other YouTube channel, let alone mainstream media. RT has permeated the movement to the extent that protesters at one point chanted “Thank You, RT! Thank You, RT!” which the global RT network posted directly onto their YouTube channel.

YT CHANNEL UPLOADED VIDEOS TOTAL VIEWS

RT France 588 23,128,218

RT France Total 588 23,128,218 Le Monde 18 3,216,740 To assess the full reach of RT France on YouTube, we compared the channel’s total L’Obs 24 3,014,017 views with those of the the largest mainstream media in France by retrieving all videos about the Yellow Vests since September 2018 from the YouTube channels FRANCE 24 157 2,513,408 of LeMonde, L’Obs and LeHuffPost (all of which were present in the top 20 Le Figaro 43 1,342,060 channels of the first data set). In addition, we retrieved videos from two more LeHuffPost 14 795,934 channels which are among the most well-known and highest-circulation media, France 24 and Le Figaro. Mainstream 5 Total 256 10,882,159 The results show that on YouTube, the information diet is not mainly made up RT France / Mainstream 5 230% 213% of quality journalism from within France - but by Russian state media and lots of fringe actors (see initial analysis on 500 most relevant videos): • RT France has accumulated more than twice as many views (23.1M) as Le Note: The difference in the total views for RT France from the first dataset (13M views) Monde, L’Obs, FRANCE 24, Le Figaro and LeHuffPost combined (10.9M) and the second dataset (23M views) derives from the fact that the first dataset looked at the 500 most relevant YouTube Videos on Yellow Vests in France, and thus only • RT France has also uploaded more than twice as many videos (588) than Le taking into account 101 videos from RT France, arriving at 13M views within the top Monde, L’Obs, FRANCE 24, Le Figaro and LeHuffPost combined (256) 500 search queries from September 2018 to March 2019. The second dataset queried the entire RT France YouTube channels and retrieved a total of 588 videos for the query “Gilets jaunes”, arriving at a total of 23M views since September 2018.

24 25 6 THE SOLUTION:

In our view, Corrections work: Correct the Record would be CORRECT Multiple peer-reviewed studies a five-step process: have demonstrated that effective corrections can reduce and THE RECORD. even eliminate the effects of disinformation. Additional studies 1. DEFINE: The obligation to correct the record disproved the theory of the “backfire would be activated when effect,” showed that corrections do Avaaz believes that the fake news surrounding the • Independent fact-checkers verify that not entrench false beliefs and came Yellow Vests has been especially impactful, because content is false or misleading; to the conclusion that corrections the vast majority of millions of French citizens work. Meanwhile, researchers are exposed to it have never been informed if they • A significant number of people, e.g. converging on best practices for have seen fake news, or seen factual corrections. 10,000, viewed the content. effective corrections like emphasizing Because even if content is fact-checked and found factual information while avoiding, to be untrue, Facebook only shows what they call 2. DETECT: platforms must whenever possible, repeating the “related articles” to a very small percentage of the original misinformation. users who have actually seen the fake news (mostly • Deploy an accessible and prominent people who shared or want to share the content). mechanism for users to report But the solution to this problem is simple: disinformation; Platforms must themselves work with fact- • Provide independent fact-checkers with checkers to “Correct the Record” by distributing access to content that has reached e.g. independent third party corrections to EVERY 10,000 or more people. To the right is a mock up suggestion SINGLE person who saw the false information of what the corrections could look in the first place.Newspapers publish corrections Platforms must work with like on users’ timelines: on their own pages, television stations on their own 3. VERIFY: independent, third-party, verified fact- airwaves; platforms should do the same on their checkers to determine whether reported own channels. No one else can do it. content is disinformation within 24 hours. Avaaz believes that Correct the Record is likely the most powerful action platforms can take ahead of the upcoming EU elections to restore the public’s 4. ALERT: Each user exposed to verified trust and to ensure the integrity of the elections. disinformation should be notified immediately It has been portrayed as a “radical new proposal using the platform’s most visible notification [that] could curb fake news on social media” by standard. TIME magazine. Governments protect consumers and participants 5. CORRECT: Each user exposed to in financial and energy markets from false and disinformation should receive a correction that misleading information, including by making it is of at least equal prominence to the original possible to issue corrections when disinformation content and that follows best practices, which could influence people’s decisions.We should could include: offer our democracies the same protections we • Offering reasoned alternative offer our markets. explanation, keeping the user’s worldview in mind; • Emphasizing factual information while avoiding, whenever possible, repeating the original misinformation; • Citing endorsement by sources the user is likely to trust.

26 27 ABOUT AVAAZ

Avaaz is a global citizens movement with over 50 million supporters in every country of the world, including about 20 million members in Europe. The research for this study was carried out by a team of investigative reporters, researchers, and data analysts set up by Avaaz to detect and deter disinformation ahead of the EU elections. Over the next few months, Avaaz members from across Europe will be working alongside this newly launched team to monitor disinformation operations across the European Union, help identify fake news and prevent their viral spreading, support in uncovering the networks driving it, and work with platforms and governments to correct false or misleading content and hold perpetrators accountable. Avaaz is aiming to provide more of such in-depth reports to inform the public and decision makers about the spread of disinformation across the continent. If you want to schedule an interview with one of Avaaz’s campaign directors or simply stay informed about further reports and investigations from our team - please get in touch with

Julie Deruy: +33676477259 / [email protected] Andrew Legon: +447429865292 / [email protected] 12/03/2019

Annex - The 100 top fake news analyzed in this study

Name of Video Views Shares Link to Fake news Link to Fact-Check

https://observers.france24.com/fr/2 https://www.facebook.com/pa 0181203-emmanuel-macron-danse- t51343/videos/vb.100007099 il-alors-mouvement-gilets-jaunes-de 055800/2072455656334383/ bute?fbclid=IwAR0BgNafi_T-HSbU Macron dances while ?type=2&video_source=user 53vPSZtOIVtx4YYjywhN8wXODfhK France is protesting 5,700,000 183,392 _video_tab ypfB2nGtXh-qCHM

https://web.archive.org/web/2 0181210110228/www.facebo ok.com/photo.php?fbid=1021 https://factuel.afp.com/non-gerard-l 7401146005830&set=a.1020 anvin-nest-pas-lauteur-dune-lettre-o Fake Gerard Lanvin 1689078253956&type=3&the uverte-anti-macron-tres-virale-sur-f letter 6,467,620 252,000 ater acebook

https://factuel.afp.com/la-police-bor deaux-retire-son-casque-en-soutien Police officers taking -aux-gilets-jaunes-une-interpretatio https://www.facebook.com/be n-douteuse?fbclid=IwAR16c-pRvPI off their helmets - njamin.e.dupouy/videos/1021 wyGS48Tehpj-c7856YsrHSdQT0Pz Bordeaux 3,300,000 121,983 8125252782142/ qXI0hdjmo3uuLagoDtSI Police officers taking off their helmets allegedly in support https://www.facebook.com/gi of Yellow Vest no.glaco.5/posts/5435501028 https://www.facebook.com/afpfactu protesters - Pau 777,000 26,815 28676 el/posts/417881982085211

https://www.facebook.com/sn https://observers.france24.com/en/2 Fake police violence oirotetthielen/posts/19716360 0181129-debunked-videos-yellow-v pictures 3,511,456 136,818 99572802 ests-france-protests Mother stopped in the Netherlands as she allegedly didn’t https://www.facebook.com/mf https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes want to take off her amediagroup/videos/3815877 -acte-viii-le-ballet-des-vraies-et-faus yellow vest 1,300,000 31,915 19256076/ ses-informations

Mother stopped in https://www.facebook.com/id the Netherlands as entitaitalianuova/videos/1960 she allegedly didn’t 103320710589/UzpfSTEwMz EyMzQ3OTQ6MTAyMTUyO https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes want to take off her TA5MDYwMzkxOTU/?__tn__ -acte-viii-le-ballet-des-vraies-et-faus yellow vest 676,000 21,616 =-R ses-informations

https://twitter.com/AfpFactuel/status /1066992424361312256?fbclid=Iw https://www.facebook.com/ya AR2DqhCcUFpETKnaTBdFs9t8Pd Macron dances while nn.juarez/posts/28509526115 Xc-mHjU3Uuz_pnrh4X3SSCKe8Ue France is protesting 4,944,624 192,659 87557 _Ov5t8

https://www.facebook.com/ph Police allegedly oto.php?fbid=196905169654 8925&set=pb.100003323406 supporting Yellow 258.-2207520000.154444768 https://twitter.com/AfpFactuel/status Vest protesters 4,619,857 180,005 8.&type=3&theater /1066818934664511489

Video of police https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.f officers taking off r/occitanie/herault/montpellier/herau https://www.facebook.com/gr lt-melenchon-victime-infox-confond- their helmets - oups/283520695621830/per frontignan-bordeaux-chaleur-soutie Montpellier 4,468, 048 174,090 malink/293590931281473 n-1579669.html Police officers taking off their helmets allegedly in support https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ https://www.facebook.com/An 2018/12/04/des-policiers-ont-ils-enl of Yellow Vest tiMacron/videos/3469978994 eve-leur-casque-face-aux-gilets-jau protesters - Pau 567,000 19,320 12658/ nes_1695952 Police officers taking off their helmets allegedly in support https://www.facebook.com/W https://factcheck.afp.com/police-taki arPlanPurple/videos/vb.8053 ng-their-helmets-support-yellow-ves of Yellow Vest 79166327747/568837880219 ts-misleading-interpretation-real-vid protesters - Pau 39,000 760 601/?type=2&theater eo Police officers taking off their helmets allegedly in support of Yellow Vest https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/23 https://www.facebook.com/En 88375-20181205-forces-ordre-elles protesters - Causee/videos/56690287707 -retire-casque-soutenir-gilets-jaune Bordeaux 17,000 550 9641/ s

https://factuel.afp.com/hors-context e-anciennes-ou-faussement-legend Police beating https://www.facebook.com/w eestoutes-les-images-de-violences- students (outdated) 3,600,000 161,862 atch/?v=348619922581785 en-marge-du-mouvement

Outdated police violences and https://www.facebook.com/gr allegedly being oups/298362254331895/per https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= erased 3,516,127 137,000 malink/317972172370903 qNvdpPHzniY

Disobedience call https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/23 https://www.facebook.com/dj 82079-20181128-video-gilets-jaune from an alleged ohn.attend.5/videos/2139730 s-policier-vraiment-publie-videos-so policeman 3,900,000 248,867 536342642/ utien-mouvement Macron hired mercenaries; secret http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/gilet https://www.facebook.com/ni s-jaunes-les-mercenaires-de-macro services support cole.guegan.735/videos/2709 n-et-autres-intox-qui-pullulent-sur-fa Yellow Vest protests 3,500,000 135,169 389059285694/ cebook-05-12-2018-7961382.php

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu rs/article/2018/12/06/vendre-la-fran ce-a-l-onu-de-donald-trump-aux-gil ets-jaunes-l-itineraire-mondial-d-un e-intox_5393268_4355770.html?fbc https://www.facebook.com/ro lid=IwAR06HAH5kjMq5XITvN2a3H Marrakech Pact meo.piacquaddio/videos/143 ZdkVhIp-dx-RdjgZvndaXiF1zbuzaF conspiracy 3,100,000 108,617 0180387116830/ yCfBsfI

Migration conspiracy https://news.konbini.com/societe/m https://www.facebook.com/m acron-va-vendre-la-france-le-pacte- - Macron is selling axime.nicolle/videos/1021769 de-marrakech-la-nouvelle-fake-new France to the UN 217,000 4,923 8440910128/ s-en-vogue

https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-france Marine Le Pen -ne-va-pas-abandonner-sa-souverai speech on nete-migratoire-en-signant-un-pacte Marrakech Pact (FB -des-nations-unies?fbclid=IwAR2P https://www.facebook.com/gr H9HiPSbbi2UpEiNMRMlzlzwAPne group still active, oups/278399246342519/per SEvHqDA6s7SNFdrWkQrvCKFOrO need to be member) 1,770,896 69,000 malink/300627614119682 CM

https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-france -ne-va-pas-abandonner-sa-souverai nete-migratoire-en-signant-un-pacte Marrakech Pact -des-nations-unies?fbclid=IwAR2P https://www.facebook.com/gr H9HiPSbbi2UpEiNMRMlzlzwAPne Conspiracy - MEP oups/278399246342519/per SEvHqDA6s7SNFdrWkQrvCKFOrO misinformation 1,000,000 56,858 malink/300627614119682 CM

Marrakech Pact Conspiracy - https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-france Misinterpretation -ne-va-pas-abandonner-sa-souverai about the pact nete-migratoire-en-signant-un-pacte ("organizing total -des-nations-unies?fbclid=IwAR2P https://www.facebook.com/an H9HiPSbbi2UpEiNMRMlzlzwAPne migration from Africa nie.duzan/posts/2157874307 SEvHqDA6s7SNFdrWkQrvCKFOrO to France") 1,066,182 41,542 557657 CM

Marrakech Pact conspiracy - says that the pact will https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-france promote immigration, -ne-va-pas-abandonner-sa-souverai institutionalize the nete-migratoire-en-signant-un-pacte right to migrate and -des-nations-unies?fbclid=IwAR2P https://www.facebook.com/ni H9HiPSbbi2UpEiNMRMlzlzwAPne encourage media colasdupontaignan/videos/51 SEvHqDA6s7SNFdrWkQrvCKFOrO censorship 905,343 40,225 1614106004087/ CM

https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-france -ne-va-pas-abandonner-sa-souverai nete-migratoire-en-signant-un-pacte Marrakech Pact https://www.facebook.com/ph -des-nations-unies?fbclid=IwAR2P oto.php?fbid=211198205578 H9HiPSbbi2UpEiNMRMlzlzwAPne conspiracy - misc. 2206&set=a.1862137867433 SEvHqDA6s7SNFdrWkQrvCKFOrO misinformation 568,637 22,156 294&type=3&theater CM

https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-france -ne-va-pas-abandonner-sa-souverai https://www.facebook.com/M nete-migratoire-en-signant-un-pacte yleneTroszczynskiFN/videos/ -des-nations-unies?fbclid=IwAR2P pacte-de-marrakech-trahison- H9HiPSbbi2UpEiNMRMlzlzwAPne Misinformation about de-nos-%C3%A9lites/197409 SEvHqDA6s7SNFdrWkQrvCKFOrO the Marrakech Pact 86,000 5,624 6169347223/ CM

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu rs/article/2019/01/31/dans-le-facebo ok-des-gilets-jaunes-le-vrai-du-faux -des-affirmations_5417270_435577 YV protest picture 0.html#episode_cette_image_montr https://www.facebook.com/gr ant_des_gilets_jaunes_rassembles being deliberately oups/1136704289828258/per _pres_de_larc_de_triomphe_a_t_ell deleted by Facebook 8,967,432 349,401 malink/1144241582407862 e_ete_censuree

https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-france -ne-va-pas-abandonner-sa-souverai Conspiracy and nete-migratoire-en-signant-un-pacte disinformation about -des-nations-unies?fbclid=IwAR2P https://www.facebook.com/Li H9HiPSbbi2UpEiNMRMlzlzwAPne the Marrakech Pact gueDuMidi/videos/16134328 SEvHqDA6s7SNFdrWkQrvCKFOrO (post removed) 87,000 4,518 02089721/ CM

https://www.facebook.com/43 https://www.franceculture.fr/geopolit UN plot to take over 1870643589953/posts/19213 ique/le-pacte-de-marrakech-provoq the world 6,057 236 40811309588 uera-t-il-une-invasion-migratoire

UN planning the https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu replacement of https://www.facebook.com/m rs/article/2018/12/06/vendre-la-fran onot.bernard/videos/3615535 ce-a-l-onu-de-donald-trump-aux-gil European population 17934236/?v=361553517934 ets-jaunes-l-itineraire-mondial-d-un by migrants 2,000,000 72,457 236 e-intox_5393268_4355770.html Police creating violence with https://www.francetvinfo.fr/economi undercover agents + e/transports/gilets-jaunes/on-a-pass missing license e-au-crible-les-rumeurs-relayees-pa https://www.facebook.com/m r-fly-rider-la-star-des-gilets-jaunes-d plates + migration axime.nicolle/videos/1021769 ont-les-videos-cartonnent-sur-faceb conspiracy 288,000 8,550 3779593598/ ook_3085529.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu rs/article/2016/12/30/quels-pays-eur Untrue claim that opeens-remunerent-le-mieux-leurs- French MPs salary elus_5055895_4355770.html?fbclid https://www.facebook.com/gr =IwAR2cfuA6o14zjzwcQLuZE0aUB higher than in oups/310403819778193/per eWM1N2AYwYyXlboVYxc8hBfhAQ Germany 2,406,288 93,757 malink/342917016526873 Z0hwSH-M

https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/faits- divers-justice/fausse-video-de-l-agr Picture of rugby ession-d-un-handicape-a-quimper-l supporters used for e-prefet-du-finistere-porte-plainte-1 https://twitter.com/AfpFactuel/ 542826305?fbclid=IwAR0FHiBoSF illustrating YV status/106428747588611276 AYEJU94YHw4bOKTLgOKV833Llx protest 2,277,655 88,745 8/photo/1 oG-1wc8X_wwP8RAS7B9G5Hk

https://factuel.afp.com/non-la-presid ente-croate-na-pas-vendu-lavion-pr Croatia president esidentiel-et-baisse-son-salaire-de- https://www.facebook.com/gr 30?fbclid=IwAR3jPjnc5Ocrt02lweCj giving up her oups/310403819778193/per kUSKb3Rh2m8DJAlM18_5O7fz8z presidential plane 1,918,240 74,741 malink/332905080861400 OYrQ_EClVFhyo

Police intentionally https://factuel.afp.com/des-policiers -visent-deliberement-ce-gilet-jaune- throwing a grenade https://www.facebook.com/w avec-une-grenade-la-police-et-le-m at a protester 1,600,000 57,807 atch/?v=290734811786372 anifestant-ne French debt created by a https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu Pompidou-Giscard-R rs/article/2018/12/13/non-la-loi-pom https://www.facebook.com/gr pidou-giscard-rothschild-de-1973-n- othschild pact in oups/310403819778193/per a-pas-cree-la-dette-francaise_5397 1973 1,470,126 57,281 malink/349923912492850 066_4355770.html

Old picture of a https://www.facebook.com/ph guillotine posing as oto.php?fbid=102174292771 https://factuel.afp.com/la-fausse-gui YV stunt 1,328,685 51,770 44713 llotine-des-gilets-jaunes Misleading calculation of the France minimum wage (SMIC) after https://www.20minutes.fr/economie/ https://www.facebook.com/gr 2394647-20181213-gilets-jaunes-n Macron’s oups/277506326438568/per on-100-euros-supplementaires-vont announcement 1,017,803 39,657 malink/352579665597900 -rendre-smicards-imposables Misleading calculation of the France minimum wage (SMIC) after https://www.20minutes.fr/economie/ https://www.facebook.com/gr 2394647-20181213-gilets-jaunes-n Macron’s oups/2195779013808193/per on-100-euros-supplementaires-vont announcement 386,723 15,068 malink/2229245273794900 -rendre-smicards-imposables Misleading https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu calculation of the rs/article/2018/12/11/smic-et-prime- France minimum d-activite-les-annonces-d-emmanue wage (SMIC) after l-macron-en-8-questions_5395831_ https://www.facebook.com/An 4355770.html?fbclid=IwAR0mkhlCc Macron’s tiMacron/posts/35863787490 eI0r8GW93Bh0dP52Cxq7bx7RF46 announcement 514,612 20,051 1218 omzGSmJ9V9NJqtGhwK8pKDo Misleading calculation of the France minimum wage (SMIC) after https://www.20minutes.fr/economie/ https://www.facebook.com/ev 2394647-20181213-gilets-jaunes-n Macron’s ents/2214783942114494/per on-100-euros-supplementaires-vont announcement 9,624 375 malink/2220474998212055/ -rendre-smicards-imposables

Vandalized cars https://factuel.afp.com/des-voitures- without plates in sans-plaque-dimmatriculation-detrui Paris (need to be tes-samedi-paris-non-il-ne-sagit-pa https://www.facebook.com/gr s-dun-complot?fbclid=IwAR1WYBh member of FB group oups/298362254331895/per 9tOM2g4ITeLMZFCJpq3yqFZzFnJ to visualize) 898,281 35,000 malink/320514445450009 QIQ1XunPapIwxtaGGYgIFFD3o

https://factuel.afp.com/des-voitures- sans-plaque-dimmatriculation-detrui Vandalized cars https://www.facebook.com/pe tes-samedi-paris-non-il-ne-sagit-pa rmalink.php?story_fbid=7512 s-dun-complot?fbclid=IwAR1gdp3y without plates in 53611904495&id=100010595 _WHl38swkzYxTJC5MI6yg7AEzXB Paris 592,070 23,069 882897 3co85eVBic0cCv-XpYDOY0Ts

https://factuel.afp.com/des-voitures- https://factuel.afp.com/sites/d sans-plaque-dimmatriculation-detrui Vandalized cars efault/files/styles/adaptative/a tes-samedi-paris-non-il-ne-sagit-pa daptive-image/public/medias/ s-dun-complot?fbclid=IwAR1gdp3y without plates in factchecking/france/collage.jp _WHl38swkzYxTJC5MI6yg7AEzXB Paris (screenshots) 386,261 15,050 g?itok=5q_pfZ9T 3co85eVBic0cCv-XpYDOY0Ts

https://factuel.afp.com/des-voitures- sans-plaque-dimmatriculation-detrui Vandalized cars tes-samedi-paris-non-il-ne-sagit-pa https://www.facebook.com/Pa s-dun-complot?fbclid=IwAR1gdp3y without plates in scal.alias.Abdelhakim/posts/1 _WHl38swkzYxTJC5MI6yg7AEzXB Paris 79,562 3,100 0211989245758799 3co85eVBic0cCv-XpYDOY0Ts

https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ 2019/01/29/non-les-deputes-ne-vie nnent-pas-d-augmenter-leur-indem Wrong or misleading nite-chomage_1705341?fbclid=IwA https://www.facebook.com/thi R2J1M8g4EYDHlBR3AXJN6ZXXR information about erry.alaux.11/posts/23107831 WnSYChDoyBVDQciwf_irr62K2IDZ French MPs' salaries 975,276 38,000 52487792 ek-lU

https://www.facebook.com/Pe https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ Claims protester was upleHautsDeFrance/videos/v 2019/01/22/non-un-gilet-jaune-perc b.2192060847782860/27424 ute-par-une-voiture-de-police-n-est- in coma after being 9666574666/?type=2&theate pas-dans-le-coma-a-cognac_17045 hit by a car 718,000 35,106 r 51

https://factuel.afp.com/hors-context https://www.facebook.com/Le e-anciennes-ou-faussement-legend Police dragging trucker1/videos/10689243733 eestoutes-les-images-de-violences- students by the leg 860,000 30,139 16234/ en-marge-du-mouvement

https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ https://www.facebook.com/gr 2018/11/30/un-gilet-jaune-a-t-il-ete-t Protester being killed oups/310403819778193/per ue-le-24-novembre-sur-la-place-de- live on TV 641,629 25,000 malink/326697624815479 l-etoile_1695026

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu rs/article/2019/02/01/non-cette-phot o-ne-montre-pas-edouard-philippe- French prime dormant-a-l-assemblee-nationale_5 minister sleeping at 417943_4355770.html?fbclid=IwAR https://www.facebook.com/gr 359MJwEKw2RA-OMOJdI2f_ZFCs the National oups/310403819778193/per AmyK7qsv5hhYjvk2Pfet33ER0nn2 Assembly 590,299 23,000 malink/324144848404090 wBs

Yellow Vest protesters blocked https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2018/1 https://www.facebook.com/gr 2/15/des-gilets-jaunes-accusent-les by police outside oups/310403819778193/per -autorites-de-les-bloquer-pour-emp Paris 487,638 19,000 malink/358687604949814 echer-la-mobilisation_a_23618786/

France 3 TV https://www.facebook.com/Pa gefaitdivers/videos/vb.18010 https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes intentionally 51863514533/172711472406 -demeler-le-vrai-du-faux-de-trois-jo censoring journalist 127,000 2,998 1836/?type=2&theater urs-de-mobilisation-0

France 3 TV https://www.facebook.com/Ba ssiste.de.Fanatic.Control/vide https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes intentionally os/vb.1234098273/10217681 -demeler-le-vrai-du-faux-de-trois-jo censoring journalist 3,700,000 119,059 408767031/?type=2&theater urs-de-mobilisation-0 Police break their own car windows to https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ https://www.facebook.com/Pa 2018/12/11/des-policiers-ont-ils-cas blame Yellow Vest nachedu13/videos/22479804 se-eux-memes-le-pare-brise-de-leu protesters 579,000 21,401 85473363/ r-vehicule_1697240 Police break their own car window to blame Yellow Vest protesters (content https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ https://www.youtube.com/wat 2018/12/11/des-policiers-ont-ils-cas removed from ch?time_continue=1&v=60xY se-eux-memes-le-pare-brise-de-leu FB/live on YouTube) 584,000 20,507 hD444gk r-vehicule_1697240 France 3 TV https://www.facebook.com/Fe https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes intentionally mmesEtFeministes/posts/241 -demeler-le-vrai-du-faux-de-trois-jo censoring journalist 7,854 306 4038455276945 urs-de-mobilisation-0 Ambulance services and firefighters refused to help a https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/24 https://www.facebook.com/ni 30627-20190118-samu-pompiers-r Yellow Vest colas.piaser/videos/2432581 efuse-soigner-manifestant-parce-po protester 416,000 20,152 116814993/ rtait-gilet-jaune

BFMTV (Live news https://www.bfmtv.com/societe/non- https://www.facebook.com/gr bfmtv-n-a-pas-tente-de-manipuler-d TV) manipulating oups/595958337474001/per es-images-des-violences-a-bordeau info on news ticker 477,706 18,613 malink/619777811758720 x-ce-samedi-1584676.html

https://www.facebook.com/pe rmalink.php?story_fbid=1994 https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/24 Police shooting at 928484143432&id=10000878 11011-20190109-gilets-jaunes-crs-t the Red Cross 436,308 17,000 8994238 ire-croix-rouge YV Facebook posts https://www.facebook.com/gr https://www.bfmtv.com/tech/gilets-ja censored by the oups/179125002966927/per unes-y-a-t-il-une-censure-politique- government 384,977 15,000 malink/193570878189006 sur-facebook-1580604.html

https://www.20minutes.fr/soci Police looted a ete/2436643-20190126-fact-c https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/24 hecking-non-video-montre-po 36643-20190126-fact-checking-non mobile phone shop liciers-francais-pillant-magasi -video-montre-policiers-francais-pill in Paris 500,000 15,000 n ant-magasin

https://factuel.afp.com/non-cette-vid Interior minister eo-nest-ni-de-bfm-ni-dune-manifest talking about the ation-des-foulards-rouges?fbclid=Iw https://www.facebook.com/fra AR2OOzIAItoJDUArMmL2E2Ww1-l 500k red-scarf nceinfolibre/videos/22759491 6uyQKAZ4gz-R-o471mkPjwJe5sPv protest 616,000 15,363 36017895/ Ola0

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu rs/article/2019/02/05/cette-photo-de -pompiers-frappes-par-des-policiers -date-de-2010-pas-des-gilets-jaune https://www.facebook.com/ph s_5419554_4355770.html?utm_ter oto.php?fbid=214866588519 m=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social& Police allegedly 0111&set=a.1477332886167 utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=154 hitting firefighters 403,790 15,733 24&type=1&theater 9379149

Alleged violence and https://www.20minutes.fr/rennes/24 https://www.facebook.com/un 31415-20190120-gilets-jaunes-renn death during protest citoyenfrancais/posts/684529 es-rumeur-infondee-deces-heurts-lo in Renne 76,251 2,971 485275763?__tn__=C-R rs-manifestation

https://factuel.afp.com/non-un-helic Police using optere-na-pas-tire-des-grenades-la helicopters to drop crymogenes-sur-des-gilets-jaunes-t https://www.facebook.com/gr oulouse?fbclid=IwAR39RidxQE53E grenades on oups/310403819778193/per OFrroWCNuwY0HyJXZhSctC8yS6 protesters 359,312 14,000 malink/394472274704680 wikoJfF_vdslGjqP9HrA Old picture of the police hitting a kneeling protester (content removed https://factuel.afp.com/hors-c link to fact-checked ontexte-anciennes-ou-fausse https://factuel.afp.com/hors-context ment-legendeestoutes-les-im e-anciennes-ou-faussement-legend article with image of ages-de-violences-en-marge- eestoutes-les-images-de-violences- post) 286,372 11,158 du-mouvement en-marge-du-mouvement

Distorted figures https://www.facebook.com/la https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/le-m vraiedemocratie/photos/a.367 ontant-de-la-retraite-de-francois-holl about former 009876756408/10770847990 ande-devoilee-09-05-2017-2126091 president pensions 436,308 17,000 82242/?type=3&theater _20.php

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu rs/article/2018/12/03/gilets-jaunes-c https://www.facebook.com/gr onstitution-disparue-et-complotisme France having "lost oups/310403819778193/per -debride-sur-les-reseaux-sociaux_5 its Constitution" 205,000 8,816 malink/326345894850652/ 391962_4355770.html

https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ 2018/12/09/pourquoi-un-vehicule-bli nde-de-la-gendarmerie-arborait-il-u EuroGendFor, n-drapeau-europeen-samedi-a-pari https://www.facebook.com/Pa s_1696961?fbclid=IwAR3QIVlKLlNl European force in scal.alias.Abdelhakim/posts/1 QyVfMv9MYUxPvlsTRTBfA6l13LZq Paris 215,587 8,400 0212026918940605 thWStO1NdMDEzA6B68c Interior minister wants to allegedly host "130 French https://www.lejdd.fr/Societe/syrie-po https://www.facebook.com/st urquoi-cest-faux-de-dire-que-130-dji jihadists in the next ephaneravier.rn/videos/9492 hadistes-francais-vont-rentrer-en-fr weeks" 238,000 8,336 08388801804/ ance-3851531 Brigitte Macron golden sneakers https://www.facebook.com/pe https://www.closermag.fr/politique/n rmalink.php?story_fbid=2230 on-brigitte-macron-n-a-pas-achete- allegedly paid for by 614340512083&id=19453487 des-baskets-en-or-a-725-euros-928 taxes 215,279 8,388 42371979 231

Brigitte Macron golden sneakers https://www.facebook.com/pe https://www.ladepeche.fr/2019/02/0 rmalink.php?story_fbid=2230 2/baskets-louis-vuitton-de-brigitte-m allegedly paid for by 630430510474&id=19453487 acron-lentourage-du-president-cont taxes 88,365 3,443 42371979 raint-de-sexpliquer,7991023.php

https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/24 https://www.facebook.com/La 38971-20190129-acte-11-gilets-jau Police officer holding .Tribune.des.Pirates/videos/3 nes-pourquoi-policiers-portaient-ma a hammer 138,000 4,948 69590343603323/ rteau

Plane ready to https://web.archive.org/web/2 "exfiltrate" Macron 0181210170704/https://www. because of Yellow facebook.com/photo.php?fbid =10215594509849342&set=a https://factuel.afp.com/non-ceci-nes Vest protests (link to .10207436787991394&type= t-pas-un-avion-pret-exfiltrer-emman web archived post) 100,787 3,927 3&theater uel-macron-cause-des-gilets-jaunes The Yellow Vest protester that was run over by a truck became a father https://factuel.afp.com/non-le-gilet-j https://www.facebook.com/gr aune-tue-par-un-poids-lourd-avigno shortly before his oups/277506326438568/per n-netait-pas-le-pere-dun-nouveau-n death 100,094 3,900 malink/357269345128932 e

https://www.facebook.com/ph oto.php?fbid=219302358409 https://factuel.afp.com/le-gazole-re Diesel back to price 8194&set=a.4443391789666 monte-son-prix-de-novembre-cest-f of November 82,129 3,200 52&type=3&theater aux Yellow Vest protester "burned by https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/24 https://www.facebook.com/he 32423-20190121-gilets-jaunes-atte a grenade in nri.tournier.96/posts/1000020 ntion-photo-pretend-montrer-blesse Toulouse" 53,897 2,100 770205549 -toulouse

The Yellow Vest protester who was run over by a truck became a father shortly before his death (FB Group still https://factuel.afp.com/non-le-gilet-j https://www.facebook.com/gr aune-tue-par-un-poids-lourd-avigno active, post taken oups/277506326438568/per n-netait-pas-le-pere-dun-nouveau-n down) 28,232 1,100 malink/357472845108582 e

EuroGendFor, https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ https://www.facebook.com/fd 2019/01/07/non-la-force-de-gendar European force in erouge/videos/60268379017 merie-europeenne-n-intervient-pas- Paris 12,000 783 3374/ contre-les-gilets-jaunes_1701444 Tweet announced the Strasbourg https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ attack - conspiracy https://www.facebook.com/ph 2018/12/12/complotisme-un-tweet-a oto.php?fbid=101569277342 nterieur-a-l-attaque-de-strasbourg-s theory (smaller 84727&set=a.492023169726 emble-l-annoncer-comment-est-ce- version) 16,297 635 &type=3&theater possible_1697358

Conspiracy theory that giletsjaunes.com was created right after Macron's https://www.20minutes.fr/high-tech/ https://www.facebook.com/br 2389435-20181207-non-site-gilets-j election under Steve achet.jerome/posts/21609464 aunes-cree-juste-apres-election-ma Bannon's influence. 12,910 503 50602705?__tn__=C-R cron

Post announcing that https://www.facebook.com/23 6736633552789/photos/a.23 https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/23 the army is arriving 6743780218741/3734452965 90179-20181207-armee-francaise- in Paris 10,112 394 48588/ mobilisee-contre-gilets-jaunes-faux The Yellow Vest protester who was run over by a truck became a father https://factuel.afp.com/non-le-gilet-j https://www.facebook.com/gr aune-tue-par-un-poids-lourd-avigno shortly before his oups/690234008043452/per n-netait-pas-le-pere-dun-nouveau-n death 9,753 380 malink/697229834010536 e Post suggesting that one of the 8 originally appointed https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/23 Yellow Vest 83523-20181129-video-gilets-jaune https://www.facebook.com/gr s-soutien-conseil-droits-homme-ma spokespersons oups/310403819778193/per nifestant-blesse-main-vrai-faux-mou works for Macron 5,287 206 malink/331788840973024/ vement Coralie, "a Belgian https://www.facebook.com/st https://www.lci.fr/medias/gilets-jaun YV protester" killed yven.marfil.9/videos/2212582 es-le-faux-deces-de-coralie-une-fak by police 4,200 186 995677584/ e-news-de-plus-2109389.html Coralie, "a Belgian https://www.facebook.com/22 https://www.lci.fr/medias/gilets-jaun YV protester" killed 2084135345623/videos/3916 es-le-faux-deces-de-coralie-une-fak by police 13,000 161 14628265567/ e-news-de-plus-2109389.html

Post suggesting that a tweet from Alsace's police commissioner https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ preceded the 2018/12/12/complotisme-un-tweet-a https://www.facebook.com/ky nterieur-a-l-attaque-de-strasbourg-s Strasbourg terrorist a.hernu/posts/169727401370 emble-l-annoncer-comment-est-ce- attack 2,926 114 6852 possible_1697358 Post suggesting that a tweet post from https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ Macron preceded https://www.facebook.com/ph 2018/12/12/complotisme-un-tweet-a oto.php?fbid=102159027568 nterieur-a-l-attaque-de-strasbourg-s the Strasbourg 36218&set=gm.20175385744 emble-l-annoncer-comment-est-ce- terrorist attack 5,107 199 0244&type=3&theater possible_1697358 A metro train deliberately blocking https://factuel.afp.com/des-gilets-ja https://www.facebook.com/28 unes-bloquent-le-periph-avec-une-r the ring road for 9808955061870/videos/6077 ame-de-metro-une-video-detudiants protest (1:21) 7,681 75 66742998343/ -pour-tester-votre

The Strasbourg attack was a strategy to install a state of http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/ emergency and attaque-de-strasbourg-dans-les-ran https://www.facebook.com/na gs-des-gilets-jaunes-certains-crient- prevent joua.ki/posts/1015613198958 au-complot-12-12-2018-7966521.p demonstrations 2,002 78 8562 hp

Fake penalty for https://www.facebook.com/fai https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/ having a yellow vest recho.officielle/videos/150-da 2018/11/02/non-on-ne-risque-pas-1 mende-pour-1-gilet-jaune-sur 50-euros-d-amende-en-mettant-un- in a car (smaller -son-tableau-de-bord/738288 gilet-jaune-sur-son-tableau-de-bord version) 1,400,000 51,885 926548381/ _1689397

Vast crowd at a Yellow Vest demonstration in Bordeaux while https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu photo dates from https://www.facebook.com/ph rs/article/2019/03/04/ces-gilets-jaun oto.php?fbid=246849022651 es-de-bordeaux-qui-ne-sont-ni-gilet 2017 in 4049&set=a.1019898964974 s-jaunes-ni-de-bordeaux_5431126_ Clermont-Ferrand 143,725 5,600 39&type=3&theater 4355770.html

Macron will buy a https://www.lesechos.fr/22/12/2017/ https://www.facebook.com/La LesEchos/22599-045-ECH_executif new presidential revoltedesvachesalait/posts/2 ---le-nouvel-avion-presidentiel-en--- plane 13,372 521 169246993169062 stand-by--.htm

https://www.facebook.com/un citoyenfrancais/posts/684529 485275763?__xts__[0]=68.A RC-6hYESALqFygguQGm_D y8VjTqS24ZPLinqZPcWL0_7 6JARPI9sj4pdxkexcimyi7QiKI CdEtK8lwuMQ8aQP2Y_zzN PtJ2OGUzdae8Hq1WSfxXO ZGhbPnKoV4Q5cKfiHPKgo7 QxasHL4wheiIzi75cb6PhyVQ uLilR8XydUaxq0Hn81trr9W6 uEd7vp-ucFG7ZOolsXB0LA6 jSECOjmtjb-yHRlAtpmsdBTP nJqg2iQaIoZMOC7a0MM7S CsQO0JKnvTGXXyX3Vnow Rumor of a casualty N5MTz5kj2gbQd-LiSPY14iYy https://www.20minutes.fr/rennes/24 dxsPN5bqxqwaU4HG67-c0e 31415-20190120-gilets-jaunes-renn in Rennes MOLxgddU48YpY2_G3QqlFs es-rumeur-infondee-deces-heurts-lo (Corrected since) 76,303 2,973 &__tn__=C-R rs-manifestation

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeu rs/article/2019/01/22/pourquoi-le-be Macron's stepson au-fils-d-emmanuel-macron-n-a-pas manipulated poll -pu-truquer-un-sondage-de-l-ifop_5 https://www.facebook.com/m 412746_4355770.html?fbclid=IwAR numbers to boost agniez.gilles/posts/10219324 2-4izCGeMrC0InH5qi2F3rQsA4PZy Macron's profile 112,927 4,400 139282545 j3aqaI2JUzNlSofPRTmhfCX1Aw9E

Pictures of police violence taken out of https://web.archive.org/web/2 0190208175508/https://www. https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes context (link to web facebook.com/brasseur.herve -des-photos-decontextualisees-pour archived post) 769,955 30,000 /posts/2327120550634313 -critiquer-macron

Pictures of police https://web.archive.org/web/2 violence taken out of 0190208182326/https://www. facebook.com/groups/277506 https://factuel.afp.com/gilets-jaunes context (link to web 326438568/permalink/43689 -des-photos-decontextualisees-pour archived post) 148,858 5,800 7657166100/ -critiquer-macron

Macron allegedly https://factuel.afp.com/macron-aug raises the price of mente-de-7-les-aliments-de-1ere-n https://www.facebook.com/br ecessite-cest-faux?fbclid=IwAR3eT first necessity uno.boulefkhad/posts/118668 pIZUgcXslHf02P0TZcJq7gpUxLfSO products 1,231,928 48,000 2241488095 TxT_OtMs3mgdFMYSuTk9sQGMg A policeman to shoot a firefighter suggesting the https://www.20minutes.fr/societe/24 https://www.facebook.com/he 56667-20190221-attention-photo-af tension between rve.blondeau.5/posts/207995 frontement-entre-policiers-pompiers forces 384,977 15,000 6132092014 -sortie-contexte Putin banned https://www.facebook.com/gr Rothschild banks in oups/737096349785254/per https://twitter.com/AfpFactuel/status Russia 5,698 222 malink/1109790019182550/ /1083030821844512768 Macron is an illegitimate president https://www.lci.fr/social/fake-new-m https://www.facebook.com/An ouvement-des-gilets-jaunes-9-fauss since France has no ne84s/posts/1031510440366 es-informations-qui-circulent-sur-les Constitution 1,514 59 023 -reseaux-sociaux-2104942.html