Islamabad, 9 November, 2026 (Ghufran): A covert Russian network attempted to exploit last month’s riots in France by spreading misleading information on social media and blaming the unrest on uncontrolled immigration, according to an internal European Union assessment reviewed by Reuters. The report said the network, known as “Operation Overload”, circulated fabricated videos impersonating Western media outlets, falsely claiming that migrants had assaulted protesters and terrorist attacks were imminent. A separate assessment by France’s foreign ministry also identified social media accounts linked to Israel and the US MAGA movement spreading hostile narratives connecting the riots to migration and radical Islamism. According to the EU assessment, Russia sought to portray the French leadership as weak and increasingly authoritarian, using the unrest to fuel fear and political divisions. The French report revealed that the ten most-viewed X posts from MAGA-linked officials, media outlets and influencers received more than 49 million views between October 16 and 18, while posts linked to Israeli officials and influencers attracted over 35 million views. In comparison, the ten most-viewed posts from pro-Russian accounts received approximately 2.8 million views during the same period. The assessments found no evidence that Russia or other foreign actors had instigated or escalated the protests, describing their activities as opportunistic attempts to exploit the unrest for political purposes. Riots had erupted across several French cities amid demonstrations over rising living costs and declining public services, resulting in some of the country’s worst violence in decades.