EXPLAINER
Sometime in the second week of December, an improbable video began making the rounds on French-language social media. France, it claimed, was subject to a coup d’état, and President Emmanuel Macron had possibly been deposed. The video, an AI-generated fake, racked up millions of views and caused alarm with at least one African leader. At first, not even the French president could get Meta to take it down.
Issued on: 17/12/2025 -
FRANCE24
By: Louise NORDSTROM
Video by: Antonia KERRIGAN
The fake video claimed that France had been subject to a coup and that French President Emmanuel Macron might have been deposed. © AP, pool
01:47
Under the guise of a breaking news story presented in a Facebook reel, a “reporter” from the non-existent French news channel “Live 24” declared that Macron and his government had been overthrown.
“At present moment, unofficial information indeed suggests that a coup is under way in France – led by a colonel whose identity has not been revealed – and French President Emmanuel Macron may have been deposed.”
As the alleged journalist reported her story with a lit-up Eiffel Tower and flashing police lights in the background, a helicopter could be seen flying overhead. Nearby, an armed soldier was keeping watch, and behind her, a sea of stunned citizens appeared to try to get a glimpse of what was going on behind the police cordons.
French President Emmanuel Macron was made aware of the fake video on December 14, but despite his pleas to take it down, Meta left it online for several days, saying it did not violate its platform rules. © Screengrab, Facebook
Text message from Africa
On Sunday, the chaotic – albeit completely fake and AI-generated – scenes from France had grabbed the attention of an unnamed African head of state, prompting them to contact the French leader directly.
“One of my African counterparts sent me a message: ‘Dear president, what is happening in your country?’,” Macron told French regional newspaper "La Provence" during a visit to the southern city of Marseille on Tuesday.
By then, the video, which appeared to have been uploaded by a user under the alias “ISLAM”, had already garnered 13 million views.
Macron said that although the fake news story first amused him, he quickly got his team on the case, reporting the video to Facebook’s parent group Meta to have it taken down.
‘Putting us in danger’
But to the president’s surprise, Meta initially refused, claiming it did not violate its “rules of use on the platform”.
“These people are mocking us. They don’t care about keeping public debates healthy, they mock the sovereignty of democracies and are putting us in danger,” Macron said in Marseille.
“I tend to think that I have more leverage than most […] Well, it doesn’t work. As you can see, we’re not well-enough equipped,” he said in an apparent reference to US tech giants.
In January this year, Meta’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that his platforms (which also include Instagram) were doing away with most of their fact-checking policies – a move that was widely seen as buckling under pressure from incoming US President Donald Trump.
“We’re going to get rid of fact-checkers (that) have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US," Zuckerberg said in the post.
READ MORESocial media giant Meta culls US fact-checks ahead of Trump term
Online for days
On Wednesday morning – three days after Macron had first been made aware of the AI-generated fake coup video – the clip was still accessible online, bearing only a minor label warning that “this content may have been digitally created or altered to seem real”. A few hours later it appeared to have been taken down, however.
This is not the first time that France – or Macron, for that matter – is subject to fake news stories.
Earlier in December, another AI-generated France coup video appeared online, falsely claiming to be relayed by FRANCE 24’s sister station RFI. That video, also uploaded by “ISLAM”, topped 3 million views before it disappeared.
01:47
Under the guise of a breaking news story presented in a Facebook reel, a “reporter” from the non-existent French news channel “Live 24” declared that Macron and his government had been overthrown.
“At present moment, unofficial information indeed suggests that a coup is under way in France – led by a colonel whose identity has not been revealed – and French President Emmanuel Macron may have been deposed.”
As the alleged journalist reported her story with a lit-up Eiffel Tower and flashing police lights in the background, a helicopter could be seen flying overhead. Nearby, an armed soldier was keeping watch, and behind her, a sea of stunned citizens appeared to try to get a glimpse of what was going on behind the police cordons.
French President Emmanuel Macron was made aware of the fake video on December 14, but despite his pleas to take it down, Meta left it online for several days, saying it did not violate its platform rules. © Screengrab, FacebookText message from Africa
On Sunday, the chaotic – albeit completely fake and AI-generated – scenes from France had grabbed the attention of an unnamed African head of state, prompting them to contact the French leader directly.
“One of my African counterparts sent me a message: ‘Dear president, what is happening in your country?’,” Macron told French regional newspaper "La Provence" during a visit to the southern city of Marseille on Tuesday.
By then, the video, which appeared to have been uploaded by a user under the alias “ISLAM”, had already garnered 13 million views.
Macron said that although the fake news story first amused him, he quickly got his team on the case, reporting the video to Facebook’s parent group Meta to have it taken down.
‘Putting us in danger’
But to the president’s surprise, Meta initially refused, claiming it did not violate its “rules of use on the platform”.
“These people are mocking us. They don’t care about keeping public debates healthy, they mock the sovereignty of democracies and are putting us in danger,” Macron said in Marseille.
“I tend to think that I have more leverage than most […] Well, it doesn’t work. As you can see, we’re not well-enough equipped,” he said in an apparent reference to US tech giants.
In January this year, Meta’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that his platforms (which also include Instagram) were doing away with most of their fact-checking policies – a move that was widely seen as buckling under pressure from incoming US President Donald Trump.
“We’re going to get rid of fact-checkers (that) have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US," Zuckerberg said in the post.
READ MORESocial media giant Meta culls US fact-checks ahead of Trump term
Online for days
On Wednesday morning – three days after Macron had first been made aware of the AI-generated fake coup video – the clip was still accessible online, bearing only a minor label warning that “this content may have been digitally created or altered to seem real”. A few hours later it appeared to have been taken down, however.
This is not the first time that France – or Macron, for that matter – is subject to fake news stories.
Earlier in December, another AI-generated France coup video appeared online, falsely claiming to be relayed by FRANCE 24’s sister station RFI. That video, also uploaded by “ISLAM”, topped 3 million views before it disappeared.
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