During this year, Russia has stepped up a disinformation campaign against France and the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, which begin on July 26. In November 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) warned about fake news regarding the Olympics on Telegram and other social networks, which was confirmed at the time by the head of IOC communications Christian Klaue. Material with examples of such news was prepared by fact-checkers of the Norwegian organization Faktisk.

According to a June 6 Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) report, Russia has been conducting influence operations for more than a year to influence the perception of the Olympics in France, attempting to “disrupt, discredit and humiliate the international competition in the eyes of participants, spectators and global audiences”. This, in particular, is associated with the fact that Russian athletes are prohibited from competing at the Games under the Russian flag. MTAC gave disinformation campaigns that spread fakes about the 2024 Olympics, the names Storm-1679 and Storm-1099. The Paris Olympic Games have been one of Storm-1679's main targets since last summer. MTAC chief Clint Watts told The New York Times that the cables are often the source of fake news in these campaigns, circulating for several days before disappearing. When fake content is checked by accounts or fact-checking resources with large followings, it gets more views and reaches new audiences. Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins noted that fact-checking may lead to wider dissemination of content, but it does not help Russian propagandists much.

Microsoft cites several examples of disinformation in this campaign, including deepfake videos that were allegedly created by prominent news media and security institutions. One such video, purportedly from French TV channel France24, attempted to show that 24% of Olympic tickets sold were returned due to fears of terrorist attacks in Paris. Another video purportedly from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reinforced this message. It claimed that the CIA was allegedly warning of a major terrorist threat in the Paris metro. A CIA spokesman told American news outlet CBS News that the video was fake and had no connection with the agency. The video was also distributed by the English-language version of the Russian “online newspaper” Pravda, part of the Russian propaganda media network. The propagandists also created a fake documentary called Olympics Has Fallen, using the identity of the streaming platform Netflix and the voice of Tom Cruise, created using artificial intelligence. The video also included fake five-star reviews from prominent media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and the BBC. The mockumentary was subsequently removed from YouTube.

Norway's top fact-checking organization, Faktisk, and hundreds of other media outlets and fact-checkers around the world have been targeted by a Russian disinformation campaign in which a significant portion of emails asking to fact-check Olympics news have been coming from fake addresses over the past few months.

There have been precedents for the concentration of Russian propaganda efforts and disinformation campaigns around the Olympic Games. For example, during the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, the opening ceremony suffered a cyber attack carried out by Russian intelligence officers in an attempt to create the impression that it was the work of North Korea.

In this case, the purpose of Russian disinformation is to undermine confidence in France, the IOC and the Olympic Games, as well as to create a negative image of the host country on the international stage. In addition, in this way they want to cause panic and create the illusion that international events without the presence of Russia are not important and relevant.