In August 2024, a video circulated online showing the French President allegedly kissing an unknown man. It is alleged that Macron spent time with escort agency workers. We decided to check the authenticity of this video.
Since August 8, Telegram channels have been distributing a video showing hugs and kisses between Emmanuel Macron and a certain man, as well as photographs of them in the company of satellites. Bloggers who referred to Western social networks and magazines assuredthat the French President is having fun during the Olympic Games with taxpayers' money. For example, Telegram channels wrote about this Voblya (231,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), “Rhymes and news"(138,000), "Release the Kraken!» (84,000) and the channel of the former head of Roscosmos, and now a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation from the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region Dmitry Rogozin (64,000).
The video, which was distributed by Telegram channels, lasts 9 seconds. (there is also a shorter, 5-second version in some posts). Macron and an unknown man are standing on the deck of a yacht, the companion hugs the French president and kisses him on the lips. Along with this video, some channels also published the cover of Voici magazine with a photo of Macron sunbathing in a sun lounger.
The magazine cover is authentic: indeed, the issue of the French tabloid for August 2–8 was dedicated the president's vacation at his summer residence in Bregançon.
From there and other photographs distributed by some Telegram channels. Among them there is a photograph showing Macron and the same shaven-headed man in black swimming trunks. The latter holds the French president by the wrist. There is no photograph or video of the two men kissing in the magazine.
If you watch the viral video carefully, some oddities become noticeable. The shaven-headed man's right hand holds Macron's wrist. Then the hand moves to the waist. But for a split second, the fingers continue to hold the wrist.
Based on this detail, the program's journalists Les Observateurs France 24 TV channel concluded that the video was created by artificial intelligence based on a photograph taken from a tabloid. French fact checkers tried to generate the same video using publicly available AI services and received the same, quite plausible result.
However, the real author of the video, as it turned out, did not hide the use of neural networks. Earliest post with this video published On August 2 at 22:07 Moscow time on the X network, the French blogger Miko with the caption “The president’s vacation according to the AI is something demonic.”
Below in the replay, the author of the post was asked: “Is this your work?” To which he replied: “No, artificial intelligence.”
As for the publication TMZ, which is referred to by some authors of Telegram channels, in this American tabloid “Verified” could not be found no investigation allegedly dedicated to Macron’s holidays.
Thus, the video was originally intended to be humorous, and the author made no secret of the fact that it was created using artificial intelligence. This, however, did not stop bloggers in X and then in Telegram from treating it as a real shoot.
The video began to spread in Russian-language Telegram channels almost a week later. The earliest post that was found “Verified” was published on August 8 at 21:17 Moscow time in the channel “Shkvarka News"(3000 views at the time of writing the analysis). It was there that the version about an escort agency allegedly supplying Macron with men arose. Shortly before this, it was spread in Russian Telegram channels and media fake about German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock, who allegedly used the services of a Nigerian gigolo.
Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
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