For a few days, The Parisian is strongly criticized for pro-Russian positioning, according to Internet users. “It’s a scandal that such a newspaper allows the publication of such articles,” wrote one of them on Twitter. One of the articles in question is titled: “A mass exodus to escape military slavery. Ukrainians are trying to escape imminent death on the front lines. “It was notably shared by the former senator with pro-Russian positions Yves Pozzo di Borgo.
Another article published in February is titled: “Joe Biden is a terrorist: new evidence”. The text directly accuses the United States of having participated in the “explosions on the Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines” and claims that “new evidence has emerged of the involvement of the United States”.
FAKE OFF
Logo, color code, headings, signature… The resemblance to the site of the real French daily is disturbingly realistic, but it is obviously only plagiarism. “It’s a site that looks like Le Parisien in every way… except for its content,” the newspaper explained in an article published on May 11.
There is indeed a different domain name, namely “leparisien.fr” for the actual information site, and “leparisien.ltd” for plagiarism. Created on February 2 as indicated by the domain information of the URL, the fake site would have published, in total, about twenty articles: “nostalgia for Russia”, “corruption of Ukraine” or even “machinations of Zelensky in the purchase of shells”. The Parisian (the real one), notes: “Beyond their title, the content of the articles is puzzling as it seeks to divide by spreading false information. »
THE Guardian, 20 minutes… were also victims
The Ile-de-France daily is not the only one to have been targeted by this plagiarism. In a report published in September 2022, the anti-disinformation organization EU Disinfo Lab had already observed seventeen impersonations of European media sites since May 2022. This was particularly the case for the Guardian in the UK or German media Picture. In total, the European organization had brought to light the existence of more than 50 fake domain names qualified as “double” sites and intended to imitate these traditional media.
20 minutes also paid the price in 2022. “A website imitating ours was spotted by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Same colors, same presentation, and a very, very similar URL: 20minuts.com”, we wrote at the time. Among our articles were others who denounced alleged Ukrainian lies, violence committed by Kiev troops or corruption by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
A Russian network behind this disinformation campaign
“It is difficult, therefore, not to see the shadow of Russia, which for several years – and even more so since the start of the war in Ukraine – has been waging an information war,” the daily said. This is also a conclusion reached by several organizations. In the fall of 2022, Meta, claimed that it was the work of a Russian disinformation network which would have invested nearly 100,000 euros for the “largest and most sophisticated” operation since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.
“Several signs make us think that Russian-speaking actors played an important role in the design of these operations”, also indicated the EU Disinfo Lab in a report, while specifying that it was not able to trace the origin of these pirate sites precisely.
“However, it is impossible in the state to go back to the creator of this false site”, notes the newspaper. Because indeed, the extension of the domain name “. ltd” is reserved for “limited liability companies”. It is quite possible to buy one for less than twenty euros. The Parisian recently filed a UDRP complaint with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Domain Names and Numbers. By denouncing a usurpation of its brand, this would allow the Parisian to recover the domain name and put an end to this plagiarism.