Pirate sites continue to copy the graphic identity of European newspapers such as Le Parisien, a phenomenon that began with the conflict in Ukraine, to distribute pro-Russian and anti-Western articles and was condemned more than eight months ago.
This influence operation, which has already reached newspapers such as The Guardian, Bild or Le Monde, was condemned in September but is still active, according to AFP.
Using the same design and graphic writing, logo, links to the homepage and articles mentioned on the websites, this plagiarism of the Le Parisien newspaper from the end of February gave rise to a complaint in May about the allocation of the domain name to the management company, Icann.
“This is a site that is similar in every way to Le Parisien… except for the content,” Le Parisien wrote on May 11, denouncing plagiarism.
The pirated pages are similar to those of Le Parisien, but there is another detail: the domain name of this site’s URL (.ltd) is different from the domain name of the French newspaper (.fr).
In early May, former French Senator Yves Pozzo di Borgo, one of the transmitters of pro-Russian propaganda in France, tweeted one such newspaper article about an alleged “mass exodus” of Ukrainian soldiers “escaping military slavery”, later justifying being duped.
But one of the tweets sharing the link has been shared more than 600 times and is still active, according to AFP, reminding that the Parisian newspaper is not the only victim.
A survey released in September by European anti-disinformation organization EU DisinfoLab estimated that the websites of 17 European media outlets were copied as part of a gender influence operation.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24, 2022 in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the need for “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine for the security of Russia.
The UN has presented as confirmed 8,534 civilian deaths and 14,370 wounded since the start of the war, stressing that the numbers are far from reality.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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