Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones seized on a Might 9 video of a practice automobile assembly amongst three European leaders to say they’d used medication and had been making an attempt to cover it.
The video confirmed French President Emmanuel Macron sitting at a desk with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer. On the desk earlier than them had been two blue folders, two consuming glasses and a small white object. The three males smiled for photographers who had gathered. Simply because the shutter clicks began, Macron eliminated the crumpled white object from the tabletop and held it in his fist.
“DEVELOPING SCANDAL: Macron, Starmer, and Merz caught on video on their return from Kiev. A bag of white powder on the desk. Macron rapidly pockets it, Merz hides the spoon,” Jones stated in a Might 11 X submit. “No rationalization given. (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, identified cocaine fanatic, had simply hosted them. All three of the ‘leaders’ look utterly cracked out.”
Jones’s submit had been considered greater than 29.5 million occasions as of Might 13 and he promoted the drug-use narrative in a number of extra posts. “BREAKING: It’s Coke,” he stated in one other Might 11 submit later that day. A number of hours later, he shared one other photograph that he stated “clearly” confirmed “a bag of Blow”. Related posts unfold in Spanish.
Jones didn’t reply to PolitiFact’s request for remark. However unique movies of the assembly by the AFP information company and The Related Press and high-resolution pictures captured by AP confirmed the white object Macron faraway from the desk was not a bag of white powder – it was a tissue.
Elysee, the official X account of the French presidency and the Elysse Palace presidential residence, posted footage that additionally confirmed what gave the impression to be a tissue on the desk. It stated on X that the white object was a tissue “for blowing your nostril”, including that “this pretend information is being unfold by France’s enemies, each overseas and at residence. We should stay vigilant in opposition to manipulation.”
In an e-mail to PolitiFact, a German authorities spokesperson described Jones’s allegation as “absurd”.
Jones’s submit additionally bought one other element flawed. He stated Zelenskyy “had simply hosted” Macron, Starmer and Merz. Nonetheless, the information experiences stated the leaders had been on their option to meet Zelenskyy when the pictures and movies had been captured; they’d not already met with him.
We requested digital forensic specialists to analyse the close-up photograph Jones posted that he alleged “clearly” confirmed a bag. Specialists stated they had been unconvinced it was genuine.
V.S. Subrahmanian, a Northwestern College pc science professor, and Hany Farid, a College of California digital forensic knowledgeable, informed PolitiFact that the picture might have been modified utilizing synthetic intelligence, producing a picture that will make the item look much less like a tissue.
How did the cocaine narrative unfold?
Darren Linvill, a Clemson College communication professor who research Russian disinformation campaigns, stated he noticed the earliest mentions of this narrative in French on Might 10.
At about 7:34 ET on Might 11, Russian Overseas Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted photos of the assembly on the messaging app Telegram; she’d added crimson circles across the white object on the desk. Her caption stated Macron, Starmer and Merz had forgotten “to place away their paraphernalia” earlier than journalists arrived to take pictures, in accordance with a Guardian report and a Google Translate translation of her submit from Russian to English. Her submit additionally described Zelenskyy as an “unbalanced drug addict” who used cocaine in 2022.
Linvill stated the false narrative proliferated throughout English social media – together with X, Fb and Reddit – on the morning of Might 11. It was amplified and popularised by “accounts identified to be a part of the Russian Storm-1516 marketing campaign distribution community”, he stated.
Russian disinformation specialists informed PolitiFact it’s not unusual for Russian affect campaigns to falsely accuse international leaders of illicit drug use, particularly involving cocaine.
“Something that makes the leaders of rival nations seem debauched and corrupt works to their benefit,” Linvill stated. “Russia desires to undercut the legitimacy of Western democracy to make their very own system seem higher by comparability.”
Scott Radnitz, a College of Washington professor on the Jackson College of Worldwide Research, stated the cocaine declare tapped into “a long-running Kremlin narrative” that Zelenskyy makes use of medication.
A senior Russian official in 2024 known as Zelenskyy an “illegitimate drug addict” and accused him of making an attempt to proceed the Ukrainian warfare to protect his energy.
In 2022, PolitiFact additionally fact-checked a deceptively edited video that stated it confirmed Zelenskyy saying he does cocaine. Within the unique video, Zelenskyy stated he likes espresso and denied he makes use of cocaine. Such rumours date again to the 2019 Ukrainian presidential marketing campaign, when Zelenskyy’s political rival challenged him to a drug take a look at, which Zelenskyy took with none narcotics being detected. We discovered no credible information experiences supporting claims that Zelenskyy makes use of medication.
Radnitz stated far-right on-line influencers like Jones usually disseminate pro-Kremlin conspiracy theories. Some experiences have stated Jones’s web site Infowars has republished greater than 1,000 articles from a Russian state-sponsored outlet.
“On this occasion, the cocaine connection was broadened to additionally embrace world leaders with the intention to discredit an in any other case profitable diplomatic engagement for Ukraine,” Radnitz stated.
*PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.*
