A year later, the Paris Olympic Games were targeted. Iranian hackers infiltrated a French company that manages advertising screens and sought to broadcast photomontages opposing the participation of Israeli athletes. The operation was detected before the images could be displayed.
This accusation comes as operations targeting French interests multiply. Hacking, attempts to manipulate information, and social media campaigns have followed one another for several years.
This is not the first time the Iranian regime has targeted French interests. Very often, intelligence services eventually establish the origin of cyberattacks, but these attributions remain far removed from the public sphere.
Beyond computer intrusions, Iran is suspected of using fake social media accounts in an attempt to influence French public opinion.
These profiles pose as ordinary French internet users. Tricolor flags or photos of young women conceal artificial accounts, some of which are operated from Iran.
Some of these accounts also support Russia or the Iranian regime. The objective described by the information gathered is to steer the debate rather than relay spontaneous speech.
A network of fake accounts was identified: they posted the same messages and replied to one another in order to artificially amplify tensions in the French public debate ahead of the presidential election.
In October 2026, during high-school student protests, several Iranian media outlets and diplomats denounced police repression in France.
On X, the Iranian embassy in Ghana claimed that tens of thousands of French protesters had disappeared.
The spokesman for Iranian diplomacy also shared an image generated by artificial intelligence. In it, he denounced an alleged double standard by France on the right to protest.
On October 7, Paris summoned the Iranian ambassador to denounce this disinformation campaign.
For Tehran, these messages fuel propaganda that downplays the violence the regime inflicts on its own opponents.
Precedents exist. In 2023, Charlie Hebdo was targeted after publishing cartoons of Iran's supreme leader. Iranian hackers broke into the computer systems of the satirical weekly.