• On the encrypted messaging service Telegram, a channel followed by more than 41,000 people broadcast a video that would be produced by "20 Minutes".
  • The production returns to the case of the fake covers of Charlie Hebdo and accuses a Russian journalist in exile, Ilya Ber.
  • But this video was never produced by "20 Minutes". Our graphic charter was simply copied, probably as part of a disinformation campaign led by a Russian network.

We would like to say that we get used to it, but no. Once again, 20 Minutes saw its name reused for Russian propaganda purposes. Last October, hackers copied several European media sites, including ours. This time, it was our videos that were targeted.

It all began on Monday, when we received an alert from Alexandre Capron, a journalist for Les Observateurs de France 24. One of our videos would circulate on the social network Telegram, an instant and encrypted messaging platform and more precisely on a Russian channel called "Раньше всех. Ну почти. Спецоперация" [which means "Earlier than others. Almost. Special Operation"]. To date, it is followed by more than 41,000 people.

A designated false culprit

Without this alert, the video signed 20 Minutescould have continued to circulate. The problem is that it has never been produced in-house but takes all the codes of our graphic charter and is confusing. The name of one of our video service journalists, Suzana Nevenkic is even used to designate her as the author of this production.

But what is this video about? In two minutes, she returns to the history of Charlie Hebdo covers in Russia. Six months earlier, six fake front pages of the satirical magazine had been relayed on Russian Telegram channels. According to the video produced by our editorial team, its author is Ilya Ber, a Russian journalist in exile and founder of the verification media Provereno.

"An almost identical video"

Still a little shocked to see her name attached to this story, Suzana Nevenkic confirms that she is not at the origin of this video. "Within my team, it disturbs us. The video is almost identical to ours," she says. And for good reason, all the graphic codes and elements that could be found in our video productions are present... "even the strongest ones." For example, the logo at the top right that fills up as you go, it's not an easy task, according to Suzana.

However, after several viewings, the eye of our video journalist still detected some inconsistencies. The font wasn't exactly the same, it's not the same opening or ending credits and the speed has been changed. But would it have been possible to detect these differences for someone outside the video service? Not sure. For its part, Les Observers still notes syntax errors in the video, for example the terms "global media" or "Western satirical media".

A simple copying

Within the editorial staff of 20 Minutes, one question remains unanswered. Was the template of our videos stolen or was the charter only reproduced identically? On the video side, Suzana Nevenkic wonders if she has not been hacked. Indeed, a month earlier, his computer had experienced a little crazy. "The web pages opened very quickly and randomly. I no longer had control over my computer," she says.

Should we see a link to it? Not necessarily, answers the tech side. "There is no hacking or hacking," says our CTO (Chief Technical Officer) Aurélien Capdecomme. The attacker mostly had to download one of our videos from the platform where we usually publish them and replace the elements with what he wanted instead. "You just have to know how to download," he adds... and ensure video editing, no doubt.

Mechanics repeat

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, many media platforms have been usurped to spread pro-Russian propaganda. As early as last October, the 20 Minutes website had been copied. Same colors, same presentation. The only distinguishing feature: the URL "20minuts.com". In the middle of real articles, information was spread about Ukrainian lies or violence committed by Kiev troops. It was then the parent company of Facebook - Meta - which had given the alert against a Russian network of disinformation that would have invested more than 100,000 euros in this small manipulation.



More recently, Le Parisien has also borne the brunt of this disinformation campaign. The newspaper was accused of taking a stand for Putin and against Ukraine. Once again, the reader finds a site copied identically. But once again, the media was not the source of the content and the information had been copied to a different domain name. The newspaper has also announced that it is filing a complaint in order to recover the fraudulent domain name.

  • War in Ukraine
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • 20 Minutes
  • Russian
  • Facebook
  • Meta
  • Propaganda
  • Fake Off