Russian ‘disinformation’ exaggerated the Paris bedbug crisis, according to a French government

PARIS: According to a French minister on Friday, a bedbug crisis that made headlines across the world last fall in Paris was fabricated by social media accounts connected to Russian “disinformation” efforts.
French Minister for European Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot told TF1 television that “the bedbug polemic was in a very large part amplified by accounts linked to the Kremlin, and they even created a false link between the arrival of Ukrainian refugees and the spread of bedbugs.”

Reuters and other French and international media outlets extensively covered the fear after the release of images by social media users showing the insects scuttling through the Paris metro and high-speed trains.
A thorough examination of metro and train cars was conducted, and the deputy mayor of Paris called on the government to assist in eliminating the bugs in time for the summer 2024 Olympics in Paris. In addition, certain schools and classrooms were temporarily closed. However, officials claimed to have found no evidence of an odd epidemic.
When asked whether the administration thought Russian reports had “orchestrated” the fear, Barrot declined to answer, stating that the misinformation effort had “amplified” an already-existing worry in order to foster a sense of unease.
Barrot said that Russian cyberattacks and misinformation tactics have increased throughout the previous two years, since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.
“We know this because of the Viginum service created in 2021, whose mission it is to detect such manoeuvres that aim to destabilise public opinion in France and to weaken public support for Ukraine,” he said.
The Russian misinformation operation was held accountable by France in November for the spread of Stars of David graffiti on social media, which had first surfaced on Parisian walls on October 31, only days after the Gaza War broke out.