Disinformation and fact-checking in France's 2022 elections. Ukraine War and polarisation

Abstract

This paper analyses fact-checking through the collaborative project Objectif Désinfox during the 2022 French presidential elections. The first objective is to find out the characteristics of the verifications analysed by the Objectif Désinfox coalition in order to discover which are the main verified narratives. A second seeks to provide practitioners' views on these projects. The third objective seeks to propose a decalogue of suggestions for collaborative fact-checking initiatives.

For this purpose, we have analysed the 135 Objectif Désinfox verifications from 27 August 2021 until the second round of the French presidential election on 24 April 2022. The study combines content analysis and an open-ended questionnaire designed specifically for coalition members to explore the coalition's functioning, strengths and weaknesses.

The results underline that most of the verifications correspond to AFP as the coalition's driver. In addition, the findings highlight the pre-eminent narratives: Great Replacement Theory, Ukrainian War, campaign hoaxes about candidates and parties, and elections.

The conclusions highlight that these collaborative projects are a fundamental tool in the face of misinformation. Furthermore, the importance of standardising verification methodologies and the need to reach a consensus on designs is stressed.