French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday accused foreign leaders, including those across the Atlantic, of exploiting France's social unrest for political gain by spreading misinformation, including AI-generated images and false claims linking the violence to migrants and Islamists.
Macron's remarks came after US President Donald Trump blamed immigration for protests and rioting in France, warning that Paris could become a "Muslim city" and urging Macron to close the country's borders.
Speaking to reporters in Qatar at the end of a tour of key energy suppliers in the Gulf, Macron said there was no visible evidence of foreign interference in the events themselves, but accused outside actors of manipulating information after the unrest.
"For me, there is no visible foreign interference in the events that took place. On the other hand, there was foreign manipulation of information afterwards, yes, and that gave rise to unacceptable and stupid comments from many people, including foreign leaders," Macron said.
"We saw AI-generated images showing scenes that never happened in France. We had people claiming that we had been invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false," he added.
Asked whether he was referring to Trump, Macron said: "Among others."
Trump has used the unrest to rally his political supporters, making unsubstantiated claims that Muslim migrants were responsible for the violence. Speaking outside the White House on Monday, he said the protests were linked to immigration rather than education or domestic policy and warned that European countries would face serious consequences if they failed to tighten border controls and deport people he described as criminals.
"Close up your borders, you're going to have nothing but trouble," Trump said, recalling advice he claimed to have given Macron years ago.
Macron criticised leaders who, he said, were repeating AI-generated content or promoting narratives about France for electoral purposes.
"All the people who are speaking ill of our country right now are people who don't love our country. So these people bother me. I love my country," he said.
"When I see leaders in campaign situations, both in the region and across the Atlantic, sometimes naively adopting or relaying information from artificial intelligence, it's clear that certain groups want to spread misinformation about what happened in France, but they're campaigning at our expense. We don't need that," Macron added.
Macron and Trump once enjoyed a close relationship, but the US president has increasingly mocked his French counterpart in public speeches.
The French president was speaking in Qatar during a Gulf tour aimed at securing energy supplies amid a global energy crisis and rising prices. His office said the visit focused on securing oil, gas, diesel and jet fuel.
Macron said France was working with energy companies and distributors to release strategic reserves and reduce fuel prices at the pump.
"We are doing everything we can. We have released strategic reserves, we have organised the release of these strategic reserves between TotalEnergies and our distributors so that there will be price reductions at the pump," he said, while acknowledging that significant uncertainties remained.
During the tour, France secured an additional 100,000 tonnes of diesel per month from the United Arab Emirates, with a further 100,000 tonnes expected to be confirmed in Bahrain. The French presidency said nearly 295,000 additional tonnes of diesel per month could be secured from Gulf suppliers, including Saudi Arabia, equivalent to more than 10% of France's monthly diesel consumption.
(With agency inputs from ANI, Reuters and AP via PTI)
