France is Facebook’s fake news litmus test as elections near end

In the run-up to the first round of the French presidential election, the country’s social media was awash in press reports of dubious origin.

One example: Emmanuel Macron’s run was being financed by his former employer Rothschild & Co. and aimed solely at defending capitalism. Another gem asserted that the founder of Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Front is growing marijuana on his country estate.

With France due to elect a new president May 7 and nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen making a strong showing in the polls, efforts by Facebook to Twitter to stop fake news from spreading on their platforms are being tested.

“We see foreign meddling, people who offer their own version of the facts, and users who contest the veracity of reports by well-established media outlets,” said Jonathan Deitch, Chief Executive Officer of Bakamo. Social, a consulting firm that estimates a quarter of the links shared on social networks about the French elections probably point to fake news.

The report, based on 8 million links from 800 sites between November and April, showed as many as 50 percent of sources of fake news were linked to Russian websites or accounts.

France’s political establishment started expressing concerns that fake news might help propel Le Pen to a populist triumph months before the first round of the French vote on April 23. Worries intensified as Macron was hit by a fake news campaign earlier this year, and a U.S. senator accused Russia of trying to influence events in France among other places.

Le Pen meanwhile is Russia’s favorite in the race, with many Russian officials regarding Macron as the candidate most hostile to their country’s interests.

With elections also coming up in Germany, the U.K., and possibly Italy later this year, internet giants are keen not to have a re-run of the U.S. election, during which platforms were accused of swaying the election by failing to keep tabs on fake news stories.

Facebook, which is France’s most popular social media platform ahead of YouTube and Twitter according to pollster Harris Interactive, has made technical tweaks, teamed up with local press and invested in fact-checking tools to counter hoaxes.

Representatives for Le Pen and for Macron didn’t respond to requests for comment.