Paris Olympics Sabotage Attempted by Azerbaijan-Linked Disinformation Campaign: Report

A disinformation campaign with origins in Azerbaijan that aimed to smear Paris’ ability to host the 2024 Olympics was uncovered by France’s cyber defense unit, according to the Agence France Presse (AFP).

"The investigations showed that at least one foreign actor close to Azerbaijan had acted, via the use of unauthentic processes, with the objective of harming at France's reputation in its capacity to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games," France's state service for Vigilance and Protection against Foreign Digital Interference (Viginum) said in its report on the campaign.

The campaign ran from July 26 to 27 on an X (formerly Twitter) account belonging to an Azerbaijani person. It included photos and videos showing French police clashing against protesters with the slogan #boycottparis2024.

From July 26 to 27, more than 1,600 posts accompanied by these visuals or hashtags appeared on X, and the posts were primarily being circulated by 90 accounts, 40 of which had only been created that month, according AFP.

The account @MuxtarYev published 15 visuals calling for a boycott, which were then amplified by inauthentic accounts and picked up by X accounts linked to Azerbaijan -- a pattern that "reinforces the hypothesis of a coordinated manoeuvre", Viginum said, per AFP.

The Paris Olympics are slated to run from July 26 to August 11, 2024.

France did in fact see anti-pension reform protesters storm the Paris 2024 Olympics headquarters on June 6 as trade unions made a last-gasp attempt to pressure lawmakers into reversing President Emmanuel Macron's raising of the retirement age. However, there were no reported protests against Paris hosting the Olympics.