French Election: Surprise Results, Familiar False Claims
PLUS: QAnon Surges Before U.K. Election; “Swingers” Adult Book Mistaken for Children’s Story
Welcome to NewsGuard's Reality Check, a report on how misinformation online is undermining trust — and who’s behind it.
Today:
Surprising election results in France spark baseless fraud claims
Pro-Kremlin QAnon sites push pedophile claims ahead of U.K. election
Satirical swinger book misrepresented as children’s literature
And more…
Today’s newsletter was edited by Jack Brewster and Eric Effron.
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1. ‘Stolen Vote’: Far-Right Social Media Sees Red Following French Election Setback
By Natalie Huet and Chine Labbé
It took mere minutes after the French election results were announced for far-right accounts on social media to baselessly claim fraud — even as their candidates did not.
What happened: After the far-right fell short in France’s parliamentary elections, far-right and anti-establishment social media accounts baselessly claimed that the elections were “rigged” and “stolen.”
Context: France’s far-right National Rally (RN) had been expected to win a majority after record gains in last month’s European elections and in the parliamentary elections’ first round. Instead, the party ended up in third place, behind a broad left-wing alliance and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc.
A closer look: “The French elections were rigged,” right-wing British-American influencer Andrew Tate said in a July 7, 2024, X post that amassed over 45,000 likes, 4,500 reposts and 2.2 million views in under 12 hours.
In just 20 hours after preliminary elections were released Sunday night, French- and English-language posts claiming that the French parliamentary elections were “rigged” or “stolen” garnered 381,000 likes, shares, and comments, according to a social media monitoring tool used by NewsGuard.
Some users baselessly claimed that fraud occurred through a record number of proxy votes in the last-minute elections.
These claims, already spreading before the first round, garnered over 136,000 interactions on social media between June 17 and July 1.
Proxy voting is when a ballot is cast by one voter on behalf of someone who cannot make it to the voting station, a system routinely used in French elections.
“The French didn't choose anything, the system cheated. It is absolutely impossible for Macron to come out ahead of the RN (and I don't even hold this party in my heart). That's why I no longer vote,” said a July 7, 2024, X post by the anonymous account @Alphanumrique2, which has previously spread false claims about COVID-19 vaccines. The post garnered approximately 55,000 views, 1,000 likes and 440 shares as of July 8, 2024.
Actually: It is true that Sunday’s results came as a surprise, as polling projections consistently had RN in the lead. However, claims that the elections were rigged are baseless.
Factors such as tactical voting explain why the RN came in third in the second round.
In parliamentary systems, tactical voting occurs when voters choose a candidate they do not necessarily support to prevent another, less desired candidate from winning.
In this snap election, about 200 centrist and leftist candidates withdrew from the second round to block the far-right.
Far right leader Marine Le Pen tacitly accepted the election results, stating, “The tide is rising. It didn't rise high enough this time, but it's still rising and, as a result, our victory is only deferred.”
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2. British Version of QAnon Spreads on Pro-Kremlin Sites Ahead of Vote
By Eva Maitland
A British version of the QAnon conspiracy theory took off on pro-Kremlin sites in the days leading up to the July 4, 2024, U.K. election.
What happened: Less than a week before the U.K. general election on July 4, pro-Kremlin websites and social media users began pushing a baseless claim that UK politicians affiliated with both major parties and members of the Royal Family are members of a pedophile network called the “Sphinx.”
A closer look: The false narrative is based on an "investigation" from the Foundation to Battle Injustice, a Russian organization that claims to be a non-governmental human rights organization.
The foundation’s website published a claim that the group “uncovered a modern British pedophile ring codenamed ‘The Sphinx’” involving “high-ranking child abusers,” including “many members of the British nobility, senior members of both major parties.”
The “investigation” was covered uncritically by pro-Kremlin site The Intel Drop (Trust Score: 7.5/100), which has a history of amplifying the foundation’s content.
“BRITISH ‘PEDOPHILE RINGS’: HOW UK RULING ELITE SEXUALLY ABUSE CHILDREN AND CONTROL CHILD TRAFFICKING NETWORKS,” the article said, citing “experts and human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice.”
Actually: There’s no evidence to support these claims. The Foundation to Battle Injustice doesn’t provide any proof and relies on unnamed sources.
The supposed “investigation” cites a 2014 probe into the “Westminster paedophile scandal,” which involved claims that British officials sexually abused minors. What the article neglected to mention is that police investigated the allegations for 18 months and reported that they did not find evidence to support the claims.
Indeed, the alleged scandal was based on false accusations by Carl Beech, who was later sentenced to 18 years in prison for perverting the course of justice and related charges.
Context: The Foundation to Battle Injustice, founded by the late Russian mercenary leader Evgeny Prigozhin, often spreads false claims to undermine the West.
The group previously accused the Olena Zelenska Foundation, a Ukrainian charity associated with the wife of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, of “selling” Ukrainian children and claimed the Ukrainian Army was conducting “lethal operations” on civilians.
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3. And one more thing: Swinging into Deception: Satire Book About ‘Swingers’ Falsely Cast as Children’s Literature
Swing and a myth …
What happened: A satire book titled “Mom and Dad’s Swinger Party,” intended for adults, is being falsely portrayed as a children’s book marketed to children.
Context: The false narrative plays off a common trope about the LGBTQ community, suggesting it has inappropriate or harmful agendas for children.
For the uninitiated, “swingers” are adults who enjoy consensual non-monogamous activities, often in a social setting.
The book humorously explores this adult theme and clearly is intended for adult readers. But some social media users clearly missed the joke …
A closer look: “Don’t tell me the queer community isn’t filled with pedophiles,” stated a June 24, 2024, X post by @HarmfulOpinion, an account run by a Portland, Oregon, pediatrician who frequently posts anti-LGBTQ content.
The post included a video reposted from TikTok of a woman reading the “Mom and Dad’s Swinger Party” book. The post garnered 105 reposts, 501 favorites, and more than 24,000 views as of July 3, 2024.
A June 22, 2024, X post featuring the same video from @myhiddenvalue, an anonymous account that posts far-right content, stated, “They’re going after the kids.” The post garnered more than 2,400 reposts, 3,600 favorites, and 491,000 views as of July 1, 2024.
Actually: The satire book was published by a comedian named Brad Gosse in January 2023.
Gosse’s author profile on Amazon states that his “books are for adults who love dark humor, inappropriate jokes and don't care for political correctness.”
Who’s behind it: The claim first went viral back in 2023, after TikTok user @jenjenivivereads, who says in her bio that she posts videos of herself reading adult parody books, shared a video reading “Mom and Dad’s Swinger Party.”
Missing the message: The caption of her video stated that the book “is an ADULTS parody book,” but users apparently missed or disregarded the message.
@jenjenivivereads’s video began recirculating in June 2024 with a Turkish language post on June 9, 2024, followed by English and Spanish language posts on June 22, 2024.
(Reuters (Trust Score: 100/100) and fact-checking organization Snopes (Trust Score: 100/100) also published fact checks debunking the claim that the book is aimed at children.)
By the numbers: Since its founding, NewsGuard has identified 18 widespread false narratives in which users mistook satire for real news, eight occurring this year.
Contributing: Kate Reynolds
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