Russia tried to spy on Macron using Facebook: report

Russian intelligence operatives tried to use Facebook to spy on the campaign of French President Emmanuel Macron before he was elected earlier this year, Reuters reports. 

Intelligence operatives reportedly created roughly two-dozen fake Facebook personas to conduct “surveillance” on associates of Macron’s campaign. Russian officials, for instance, tried to get information from Macron’s connections by masquerading as friends of friends, Reuters reported, citing people briefed on the effort, including an unnamed U.S. congressman. 

{mosads}Facebook is said to have noticed the behavior and traced it to past efforts by the GRU, Moscow’s main intelligence directorate. Facebook has reportedly briefed congressional committees and others about the findings.

Moscow has denied meddling in the French election.

The U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia used of cyberattacks and disinformation in the 2016 presidential race has stoked fears about the potential for Russian interference in European elections, including upcoming federal elections in Germany. 

It is widely believed that Russia sought to use disinformation and social media to tip the scales in favor of Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s National Front, in the May presidential election.

Macron also had campaign emails hacked and leaked in the days before the election, which he won handily. While French officials have not publicly blamed Russia or anyone else for the hacks, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers said in congressional testimony in May that the U.S. had warned French officials of Russian “activity” against their infrastructure before the emails were leaked. 

The cybersecurity firm Trend Micro released a report in April saying the same hackers behind the Democratic National Committee breach were also targeting Macron. 

In April, before the conclusion of the French election, Facebook announced it was shutting down 30,000 accounts in France in an effort to crack down on “fake news.”