Meddling in French Elections

Several press outlets today are talking about Facebook and French elections in the same breath.  They use the term "fake news" which is odd, but catching on since the President of the United States decided to use it regularly.  First, let me ask if the Chinese way of controlling the press - dictating what press outlets can say about world events, filtering out news stories, shooting the Great Cannon at information outlets of other countries so Chinese cannot see them, and harassing people who are independent writers - qualifies as "fake news"?  Is the controlled access to news and the limitations put on wording of news stories the same as the FSB or RT publishing fake stories on Facebook trying to influence the perceptions of various candidates?  I would say they are not, but part of the same attempts to influence perceptions of world events.  Manipulation of perception by any definition.

Since Facebook has taken up the task of trying to shut down some of the fakes on their medium, they are entering the realm of counterintelligence - separating the government sponsored efforts from the political candidates efforts - no easy task.  That is because fake news has become institutionalized by biased press outlets, social media, political ads that are slanted to show a potential candidate in a bad light.  The Russians and Chinese both use other methods of criminalizing the behavior of potential candidates but the United States is pretty close behind in both regards.  During the Obama Administration, the abuse of law was too evident, especially in the persecution of Scott Walker who would have made a pretty good candidate once upon a time.  The United States political parties seem to believe it is never too late to start on the potential candidates for public offices at all levels of government.  That is similar to both Russia and China in the way they behave.

Now it is France's turn and I have some advice for them.  Look for contributions to political parties by foreign nationals and French Nationals with foreign backing.  Look for people in government communicating with Wikileaks and French equivalents.  Keep a closer eye on embassy staffs and their recruitment.  Expose the writers of  stories who are picking up RT's political stories and passing them onto the public.  Unless you are unique in the world, there is no free press to speak of any more.  A few press outlets are being purchased by the Russians and will have their own people there writing stories and covering specific events that speak to their narrative.  Paid people will disrupt candidates' speeches, moving from sites to site.  They will photograph and video every event looking for a slip in wording or slant that may prove advantageous to another candidate (some Ukrainians photographed the ones doing this, which is not a bad idea) They will manufacture events like egging a candidate or protesting.  They will harass the family members of candidates they don't approve of.  They will suggest the legitimacy of any election not going their way was influenced by the candidate that wins.  And, oh by the way, they don't quit when the election is over.