France blames bed bug panic on Russian ‘disinformation’

A bedbug scare in Paris last autumn that grabbed headlines across the globe and led to schools closing was artificially amplified by social media accounts linked to Russian “disinformation” activities, a French minister has said.

“The bed bug polemic was in a very large part amplified by accounts linked to the Kremlin, and they even created a false link between the arrival of Ukrainian refuges and the spread of bedbugs,” French European affairs minister Jean-Noel Barrot told TF1 television on Friday.

After social media users published footage of the insects crawling around in high-speed trains and the Paris metro, the scare picked up traction on French and foreign media.

The authorities, however, found no trace of any unusual outbreak.

Destabilising public opinion

The media had already reported that French intelligence services concluded there was a link between Russia and the bed bug panic, but this is the first time a French minister has confirmed it in public.

(with newswires)