France Riots Become Battleground for Russia, MAGA and Israel, EU Report Finds | Times Now World

France's unrest is now spilling beyond the streets and into an online information war. For a fourth consecutive weekend, protests continued on Saturday, November 7, over the rising cost of living and pressure on public services. The Interior Ministry counted 146,000 demonstrators nationwide. Organizers put the figure at 250,000. As the protests continue, An EU assessment says foreign-linked networks have been using the unrest to push competing political narratives. The assessment, reviewed by Reuters, says a covert Russian network called Operation Overload circulated fabricated videos impersonating Western media. Some falsely claimed migrants had raped protesters or terrorist attacks were imminent. The aim, it said, was to depict the French leadership as weak and increasingly authoritarian and to fuel fear and division ahead of elections. But Russia was not alone. A separate French foreign ministry assessment found that accounts linked to Israeli officials and influencers, as well as the U.S. MAGA movement. Also amplified narratives tying the unrest to migration and radical Islamism. Between October 16th and 18th, the 10 most viewed MAGA-linked posts drew more than 49 million views. Israeli-linked posts received over 35 million, compared with 2.8 million for pro-Russian posts, the report said. The EU found no evidence that foreign actors had triggered or escalated the protests, calling the activity the opportunistic exploitation of unrest. President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged foreign manipulation of information. Elena Treiger, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, described it as a slow-burning narrative competition. The concern? Domestic anger could be turned into deeper divisions and shape perceptions of French democracy ahead of the 2027 elections.