France accuses Russia of fueling Bedbug Panic

Europe Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Friday that the panic that swept through France in autumn 2023 regarding the purported spread of bed bugs was amplified by disinformation spread through social media accounts associated with the Russian state.

These remarks come amid increasing concerns in France regarding the threat posed by Russian disinformation campaigns, especially those aimed at undermining support for Ukraine in its conflict against the invasion.

“The issue of bedbugs was artificially amplified on social networks by accounts that have been established to be of Russian inspiration or origin,” he told TF1 television.

“It was very largely amplified by accounts linked to the Kremlin,” he added.

Media had reported that French intelligence services concluded there was a link between Russia and the bedbug panic, but this is the first time a French minister has confirmed it in public.

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Barrot said the social media accounts had even created a “false link between the arrival of Ukrainian refugees and the spread of the bedbugs.”

In October, France shut several schools over what was thought to be an infestation of bedbugs as the government held a series of emergency meetings.

The blood-sucking insects were reportedly spotted in the Paris metro, high-speed TGV trains and at Paris’s Charles De Gaulle Airport.

Authorities became increasingly concerned over what they considered an unfounded panic that grabbed headlines around the world ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Barrot pointed to other such campaigns such as the daubing of anti-Semitic graffiti in Paris and other cities and a fake news report, falsely attributed to television channel France 24, that President Emmanuel Macron had postponed a trip to Ukraine for security reasons.

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Macron in 2021 created a new agency called Viginum mandated to detect digital disinformation campaigns.

Viginum said last month it had identified a network dubbed “Portal Kombat” of dozens of Russian-origin websites aimed at destabilising public opinion in France and Europe.

Officials are concerned about a potential rise in disinformation campaigns ahead of the June European elections where the far right – generally seen in Europe as being more sympathetic towards Russia – are eyeing significant gains.

With inputs from AFP.