The French presidency has dismissed as ‘fake news’ a viral conspiracy theory falsely claiming that President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders were seen taking drugs on a train.
The Elysée Palace has hit back against “fake news” spread by “France’s enemies” after social media accounts belonging to far-right figures and Russian officials falsely claimed that European leaders, including President Emmanuel Macron, were seen taking drugs on a train.
The baseless accusation made waves on X, originally stirred up by US radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, before being picked up by Russian officials such as foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The alleged incident involved genuine footage showing Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz having a meeting in a train compartment on their way to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.
As Merz and Starmer entered the compartment, Macron was seen moving a white tissue from the table.
Social media accounts then claimed, without a shred of evidence, that the white object contained cocaine.
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“When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation can be so desperate as to make a simple tissue look like drugs,” declared the Elysée on Monday in a statement on its own X account.
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