How a pro-Kremlin ad campaign used the Israel-Hamas conflict to spread propaganda in France and Germany

Key Findings

ISD found 192 pro-Kremlin Facebook ads targeting audiences in France and Germany with respect to both the Israel-Hamas conflict and the war in Ukraine. All the ads were posted between 7 October 2023 and 30 August 2024.

The ads echoed common pro-Kremlin disinformation, anti-American sentiment, and existing far-right narratives about the threats of immigration and economic decline in France and Germany, with the seeming intent to undermine the provision of military support and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and to seed fear and discord in the target countries.

Most of these ads were deactivated within one day of being posted on the platform, however they each reached an average of 6,212 accounts prior to their removal.

Based on the characteristics of these accounts, their narrative strategy, and signs of potential coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB), it is likely these ads are associated with the well-established Doppelganger campaign.

The two Russian companies determined to be behind the campaign by Meta in September 2022 have since been hit with ‘restrictive measures’ and investigations by multiple government entities, and assessed to be under the control of the Russian Presidential Administration by the US Justice Department earlier this month