A presidential candidate's team takes on Wikipedia
On December 28, 2021, Samuel Lafont, the head of digital operations for far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour, revealed to Le Parisien that a group of Zemmour supporters were editing the French Wikipedia. Freelance journalist Vincent Bresson had already infiltrated Zemmour's campaign, and had been monitoring the "WikiZedia" group led by Lafont since early November. French Wikipedian Jules*, also the lead author of this article, had taken the first steps toward helping Bresson follow the edits more closely and documenting the effects of the WikiZedia cell.
Zemmour is a candidate in the presidential election to be held on April 10 (with a second round, if needed, held on April 24). Opinion polls currently put him in third or fourth place behind President Emmanuel Macron and far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. He is roughly tied with the rightwing Valérie Pécresse.[1] Zemmour is also a conservative television commentator by trade. He's been convicted of hate speech three times, and his platform centers on "immigration zero". He is proud to have received the encouragement of former United States President Donald Trump over other right-wing candidates.[2]
On December 21, a journalist and one of the publishers at Éditions Goutte d'Or contacted Jules* through an experienced Wikipedian. The publisher wanted to meet about "a political team that coordinates to direct several Wikipedia pages about its candidate and circumvent the rules of the encyclopedia", which he was investigating with Bresson (the author of the book). He first questioned Jules* about the operation of Wikipedia, then described a team of about ten people, headed by a lieutenant of the candidate, whose aim was to surreptitiously promote its candidate on Wikipedia. He did not name the candidate – or, until later, the investigating journalist.
"By the end of the meeting, it was clear that I could help the author and his editors better analyze the contributions of the members of the WikiZedia team." Beyond the public interest, Jules* had a Wikipedian interest: he had an opportunity to access otherwise inaccessible information, to protect Wikipedia from political manipulation. The conditions for this collaboration were as follows: Jules* promised to keep the information secret in order to protect the author of the investigation, who was infiltrating the group, and to refrain from intervening on Wikipedia against the members of the group until the book was published. "My essential condition for helping the journalist was to be able to transparently detail everything to the community after the investigation – they accepted it."[3]
- ^ "French election polls: the race for the presidency". Financial Times. (subscription required)
- ^ "'Hang in there': French far-right candidate Zemmour touts encouragement from Trump". France 24.
- ^ "Cellule dissimulée de promotion d'Éric Zemmour sur Wikipédia" [Eric Zemmour's hidden promotion cell on Wikipedia] (in French). French Wikipedia.