Misinformation from the creator of “Scruples” card game
PLUS: Russia creates dancing French president, and Biden’s migrant flight myths
Welcome to NewsGuard's Reality Check, a report on how misinformation online is undermining trust — and who’s behind it.
Today:
Disco deception: Russia deepfakes a dancing French President Macron
Flight fiction: Debunking false claims about Biden's migrant airlifts
Inventor of the popular card game “Scruples” has a misinformation side gig
And more…
Today’s newsletter was edited by Jack Brewster and Eric Effron.
1. Twirling Tales: Pro-Kremlin Sources Promote Deepfake Dancing by French President Macron
By Eva Maitland and Natalie Huet
The 1980s disco era is back, but not for a musical revival. Instead, it's been repurposed as the setting for a Kremlin misinformation campaign.
What happened: In a peculiar blend of old-school flair and modern mischief, pro-Kremlin sources are promoting a deepfake video depicting French President Emmanuel Macron dancing in a 1980s disco wearing wigs and dresses.
Uhh … why? This isn't just an attempt at retro revival; it's a calculated effort to undermine Macron, who is taking a leading role in support for Ukraine.
“Macron … before his political life,” stated a Feb. 26, 2024, X post by pro-Kremlin account @MyLordBebo that was shared nearly 9,000 times and amassed more than 27,000 likes.
A closer look: Other pro-Kremlin accounts amplified the video after Macron refused to rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine at a Feb. 26, 2024, summit in Paris.
Russian state TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov shared the fabricated video in a Feb. 27, 2024, Telegram post, alongside an accurate quote from Macron at the conference, stating, “The defeat of Russia is indispensable to the security and stability in Europe.”
Watch the video below:
Actually: The video is a deepfake. Macron's face has been overlaid onto the faces of people dancing in videos that are widely available on the internet, NewsGuard found.
See for yourself: NewsGuard identified several earlier versions of the clips in which it is clear that the original videos do not show Macron.
Context: Macron has long been targeted with baseless claims about his sexual orientation, as has his wife, Brigitte Macron.
Learn more about "The Death of Truth."
2. No, the Biden Administration Is Not Secretly Flying Migrants to the U.S. as Voters
A false narrative about the Biden administration’s immigration policies has found its way onto far-right websites and even the X feed of Elon Musk.
What happened: Conservative commentators and websites — and X owner Musk — have been spreading the false claim that last year, the Biden administration secretly flew in more than 300,000 undocumented migrants from Latin America right into the U.S. Some are suggesting a political motivation to add new voters during a presidential election year.
“The Biden regime has been operating secret charter flights to transport illegal immigrants from foreign airports to various U.S. cities,” stated far-right website The Gateway Pundit (Trust Score: 30/100) in a March 5 article.
Musk took it a step further, stating in a March 5 post on X that the flights were part of a scheme to “import” migrants who would vote for Biden. “This administration is both importing voters and creating a national security threat from unvetted illegal immigrants,” Musk posted.
Musk’s tweet had more than 35 million views and more than 500,000 engagements as of March 11.
It is true that thousands of migrants have traveled to the U.S. under a program that was launched by the Biden administration in October 2022 to accommodate Venezuelan migrants escaping economic collapse or political oppression. The program was expanded in January 2023 to include migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti. It’s also true that the Biden administration has refused to disclose the 43 locations across the country where the migrants have flown, which is subject to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
However, the existence of the program is not secret, participants pay for their own airfare, and they enter the country legally under the program.
Moreover, contrary to claims that the program is part of an election fraud scheme, non-citizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections, according to federal law.
Read on: Under the program, up to 30,000 migrants may enter the U.S. each month, as long as someone legally living in the U.S. — a family member, friend, or company — files an application with the U.S. government requesting that the migrant be allowed in the country, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website.
If the request is approved, migrants can apply for a travel authorization that will allow them to enter the United States by air within 90 days. Migrants can remain in the U.S. for two years under the program.
Social media concentration: Musk’s X account (176.5 million followers) has more followers than the accounts of The New York Times (55.2 million), The Washington Post (20 million), and The Wall Street Journal (20.6 million) combined.
Do you work in Trust and Safety for a technology company, in brand safety for advertising or otherwise counter misinformation as part of your job? Find out about NewsGuard’s weekly Risk Briefings, a more detailed briefing for professionals. Click here.
3. One more thing: Inventor of Popular Card Game Promotes Conspiracies on the Side
By Andie Slomka
What happened: Henry Makow, a Canadian author who in 1984 invented the card game “Scruples,” which throws players into moral quandaries, also runs a conspiracy blog recently rated by NewsGuard.
Makow’s website, HenryMakow.com, is filled with conspiracy theories on topics such as the Israel-Hamas war, vaccines, and 9/11.
The website receives a Trust Score of 7.5/100 from NewsGuard.
Blaming Israel for Oct. 7 and 9/11: An October 2023 article on the site titled “Jews and Muslims in Genocidal Death Duel,” compared the Hamas attack to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, stating, “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu calls the [Oct. 7, 2023,] Gaza attack, ‘our 9-11 moment.’ Like 9-11, Gaza was perpetrated by the zionists.”
Actually: There is no evidence that Israel orchestrated the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks within its borders, killing more than 1,100 people in Israel, or the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks in the U.S., killing nearly 3,000 people.
A March 2024 article titled “PHARMAGEDDON - How the COVID ‘Vaccine’ Bioweapon Kills,” stated: “There is no good intention. Instead, we have seen relentless coercion, relentless censorship, and relentless lying by officials regarding the ‘safety’, ‘effectiveness’, and even the ‘necessity’ of, the COVID-BIOWEAPON-JAB.”
Asked in a November 2023 NewsGuard email about the false claims mentioned above, Makow responded: “Thanks … but I do not wish to participate in your service.”
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Produced by co-CEOs Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, and the NewsGuard team.
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