Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said this week it is filing criminal charges against X (Twitter) in France in connection with a Kremlin disinformation campaign that used the nonprofit as a prop to spread fake news. The organization said legal remedies are its “last resort” in its fight against the fake stories, intended to promote pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian sentiments, rampant on the platform. “X’s refusal to remove content it knows to be false and deceptive – as it was duly informed by RSF – makes it complicit in the spread of the disinformation circulating on its platform,” said RSF director Antoine Bernard in a statement.
“These legal proceedings are intended to remind defamation – crimes punishable under law.” French Criminal Code,” wrote RSF lawyer Emmanuel Daoud.
RSF published an investigation in September detailing how a fabricated video was posted and distributed by Russia on Elon Musk’s social platform. The fake clip was made to look like a BBC-produced clip, including the news organization’s logo. It falsely stated that the RSF had conducted a survey showing that a large number of Ukrainian soldiers sympathized with Nazism.
False claims that Ukraine is a pro-Nazi nation have been a common propaganda tactic by Russia since the 2022 invasion. The story aims to drum up support for the Kremlin-initiated war, which is estimated to have killed a million or more Ukrainian people.
RSF’s investigation found that an account called “Patricia,” claiming to be a translator in France, planted the seeds of the disinformation. However, the report revealed that the account’s profile photo was found on a Russian website featuring photos of blonde women designed “to create avatars.”
RSF says that even the name of the account appeared to be automatically generated by X. Additionally, the organization says Grok, X’s AI chatbot with access to live data about the platform, claimed the account “has very strong opinions, often in support of Russia.” and Vladimir Putin, while severely criticizing Ukraine and its supporters in Europe.”
Investigations revealed that the video then took off and spread through a chain that included a pro-Kremlin Irish entrepreneur living in Russia, a Kremlin propagandist with a large following on Telegram and even Russian officials. It was also shared by “highly influential bloggers” known for their staunch support of Vladimir Putin.
“In this story, the Russian authorities have acted a bit as if they were laundering dirty information,” an RSF representative said in a video about the investigation in September (translated from French). “They took false information and laundered it through official channels. And then this piece of information, which was not real information, was reintroduced into the public debate to make it appear credible.”
Russia’s fake video was widely shared on X and Telegram. Reporters Without Borders says the clip’s viewership had reached half a million combined views by September 13. To reflect its frustration at the blow to its credibility, the nonprofit cited the quote (of unknown origin but often attributed to Mark Twain): “A lie can travel halfway around the world, while the truth is still in her shoes attracts.”
RSF says it has filed ten reports of illegal content with X through the social channel’s reporting system, required by the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). “After a series of denials from
In July, the US Department of Justice said it had discovered and dismantled a Russian propaganda network that used nearly a thousand accounts to promote pro-Kremlin messages on X. The DOJ alleged that the accounts impersonated Americans and were created using AI. In October, The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk had several private conversations with Vladimir Putin from 2022 to this year, describing the contacts as a “closely kept secret within the government.”
“X’s refusal to remove content that it knows to be false and deceptive – as it was duly informed by RSF – makes it complicit in the spread of the disinformation circulating on its platform,” RSF director Bernard wrote in a statement. “X provides those who spread falsehoods and manipulate public opinion with a powerful arsenal of tools and unparalleled visibility, while providing total impunity for perpetrators. It’s time for X to be held accountable. Filing criminal charges is the last resort against the disinformation and war propaganda that RSF has fallen victim to and is spreading on this ‘Muskian’ network.”
