It was predicted in advance, but the Paris Olympics have already seen a number of examples of ‘fake news’, with experts believing that many of the accounts spreading the false information have direct links to Russia.

The Paris 2024 Games are now in their second week and so far, things seem to be going fairly well – nothing is perfect of course and there have been some problems but many of the elements that people were most worried about in advance, such as the Opening Ceremony on the River Seine, have passed off well. 

But that hasn’t stopped an avalanche of online disinformation claiming that the event is a disaster.

Here’s a look at some of the most high profile.

Fake Macron 

A viral video released in advance of the Games shows an actor playing French president Emmanuel Macron denouncing the Games, standing against a backdrop of rats and rubbish.

While Paris does indeed have rats and sometimes (usually during strikes by waste collectors) piles of trash can be seen, in this case the video is fake and Macron has been nothing but enthusiastic about the Games – especially as they have provided a ‘truce’ in a very awkward political situation.

The video quickly went viral and AI translations made it available in 13 languages – at least 30,000 social media accounts with Kremlin links helped to boost and share the film.

Vomiting athletes

One of the biggest gambles of the Games was holding the open-water swimming events in the newly cleaned up River Seine (a hugely ambitious €1.4 billion project that aims to make the river a long-term swimming spot for locals).

In the end it was touch-and-go and the men’s triathlon had to be postponed by 24 hours because of poor water quality, but the triathlon events did indeed go ahead.

Soon after, however, a fake front page of the French newspaper Libération began to circulate showing an athlete throwing up after completing their river swim and claiming that 25 athletes had fallen ill – the newspaper has confirmed that it has no connection to the images and has not run any such story.

A Belgian triathlete who fell ill after her event – and was incorrectly reported to have been hospitalised – has since confirmed on her Instagram page that she had contracted a virus and not E.coli, as had been rumoured.

This is not the first time fake news articles have been circulated – others having to do with bedbugs in Paris were shared in 2023.

US Metro warning 

A fake video widely shared online claimed that the CIA was warning Americans against using the Paris Metro, saying: “The terrorism threat level in the Paris metro has reached its peak. CIA experts along with the U.S. embassy in France are urging American citizens to avoid the Paris metro during the 2024 Olympics.”

In fact the US State Department is issuing the same travel advice to Americans as it has since the start of the year, warning of possible terror attacks, demonstrations that can sometimes turn violent and property crime such as pickpocketing.

There is no mention of not using the Metro and the only Olympics-related advice issued to Americans warned of possible road closures due to the Olympics security zones in Paris, warning Americans to check whether they would need a QR code to enter restricted areas.

The CIA does not routinely issue travel advice, this would normally be the province of the State Department or the US Embassy in Paris.

Algerian female boxer gender test 

This was a real event, but Russian-linked social media accounts seized on the controversy, stoking the divide and adding completely baseless claims that boxer Imane Khelif is transgender.

The Algerian boxer found herself at the centre of a social media storm after it was revealed that the International Boxing Association had barred her and the Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting from competing in 2023 over a ‘failed gender test’.

The IBA itself has since been barred from the Olympics. It remains unclear what the eligibility tests consisted of and IBA officials have not offered further clarification, citing medical confidentiality.

The International Olympic Committee is running Paris boxing events. The IOC president Thomas Bach has defended Khelif and Lin, stating that they have met eligibility criteria and that they were born and raised as women, and have passports saying that.

Nevertheless, claims about Khelif being genetically male or transgender were quickly circulated online, often by accounts with links to Russian disinformation organisations (although they were also circulated by real people including author JK Rowling and US presidential candidate Donald Trump).

At one point, Twitter users were posting about the boxer tens of thousands of times per hour, according to an analysis by PeakMetrics, a cyber firm that tracks online narratives.

The IBA itself has a Russian president who is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its biggest sponsor is the state energy company Gazprom.

The organisation doubled down on its claims about Khelif being genetically male in a chaotic press conference in which president Umar Kremlev also attacked the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, but provided no further details on the tests that were used to disqualify the two women.

Organised disinformation 

Gordon Crovitz, co-founder of NewsGuard, a firm that analyses online misinformation, told Associated Press that his company has tracked dozens of examples of disinformation targeting the Paris Games.

He told AP that Russia’s disinformation campaign targeting the Olympics stands out for its technical skill, adding: “What’s different now is that they are perhaps the most advanced users of generative AI models for malign purposes: fake videos, fake music, fake websites.”

France is no stranger to Russian disinformation campaigns, and several experts had warned that these were likely to get worse during the Olympics – from which Russia is banned from competing. A handful of Russian athletes have been allowed to compete as neutral athletes.

In the run-up to the Games France saw an uptick in online disinformation, as well as on-the-ground actions believed to be linked to Russia such as anti-Semitic graffiti created in Paris.

ANALYSIS How serious is Russian interference and disinformation in France?