AMITT/incidents/I00004.md

Incident I00004: #Macrongate

• Summary: amplified document dump failed because France was prepared for it.

• incident type: incident

• Year started: 2017

• Countries: Russia , France

• Found via:

• Date added: 2019-02-24

Technique	Description given for this incident

DO NOT EDIT ABOVE THIS LINE - PLEASE ADD NOTES BELOW

Actor: IRA

Timeframe: 1 day (plus preparation)

Date: May 2017

Presumed goals: reduce Emmanuel Macron’s chance of winning French presidential election

Method:

• fake documents posted on 4chan about Macron’s alleged offshore account,
• amplified by pro-Trump Twitter accounts using #MacronGate and #MacronCacheCash

Counters:

• preparation (resilience, account removals),
• honeytraps,
• counter-response with humour.

Related incidents:

• DNC document release, US presidential elections, 2016

References:

• Source: https://www.patreon.com/posts/macrongate-tied-11940855
• http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/09/how-france-beat-back-information-manipulation-and-how-other-democracies-might-do-the-same/
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/08/macron-hackers-linked-to-russian-affiliated-group-behind-us-attack