French president mocked online as AI-generated coup video goes viral

A fabricated “breaking news” story circulating as a Facebook reel falsely claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron and his government had been overthrown.

The video purportedly came from a non-existent French news channel called “Live 24”, Caliber.Az reports, citing French media.

“In this moment, unofficial information indeed suggests that a coup is underway in France—led by a colonel whose identity has not been revealed—and President Emmanuel Macron may have been deposed,” the alleged reporter stated.

The reel, which depicted the Eiffel Tower illuminated in the background and flashing police lights, showed a helicopter flying overhead. An armed soldier was visible keeping watch, while crowds of stunned citizens appeared behind police cordons, seemingly trying to see what was happening.

Despite being entirely fabricated and AI-generated, the chaotic scenes caught international attention. An unnamed African head of state reportedly contacted Macron directly to inquire about the situation.

“One of my African counterparts sent me a message: ‘Dear president, what is happening in your country?’” Macron told French regional newspaper La Provence during a visit to Marseille on December 16.

By that time, the video—uploaded under the alias “ISLAM”—had already amassed 13 million views. Macron said that while he initially found the clip amusing, he quickly mobilised his team to report it to Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to have it removed.

To his surprise, Meta initially refused, claiming the video did not violate its platform rules.

“These people are mocking us. They don’t care about keeping public debates healthy, they mock the sovereignty of democracies and are putting us in danger,” Macron said in Marseille.

“I tend to think that I have more leverage than most […] Well, it doesn’t work. As you can see, we’re not well-enough equipped,” he added, apparently referencing the influence of major US tech firms.

The controversy comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in January that his platforms—including Instagram—would largely eliminate fact-checking policies, a move widely seen as responding to pressure from incoming US President Donald Trump. “We’re going to get rid of fact-checkers (that) have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US,” Zuckerberg said.

As of the morning of December 17 — three days after Macron first became aware of the video — the AI-generated clip was still accessible online, carrying only a minor label warning that “this content may have been digitally created or altered to seem real.” A few hours later, the video appeared to have been removed.

By Tamilla Hasanova