Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones seized on a Could 9 video of a prepare automobile assembly amongst three European leaders to assert 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 shortly pockets it, Merz hides the spoon,” Jones mentioned in a Could 11 X put up. “No clarification given. (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, recognized cocaine fanatic, had simply hosted them. All three of the ‘leaders’ look utterly cracked out.”
Jones’s put up had been considered greater than 29.5 million occasions as of Could 13 and he promoted the drug-use narrative in a number of extra posts. “BREAKING: It’s Coke,” he mentioned in one other Could 11 put up later that day. A number of hours later, he shared one other picture that he mentioned “clearly” confirmed “a bag of Blow”. Related posts unfold in Spanish.
Jones didn’t reply to PolitiFact’s request for remark. However authentic movies of the assembly by the AFP information company and The Related Press and high-resolution photographs captured by AP confirmed the white object Macron faraway from the desk was not a bag of white powder – it was a tissue.
A cropped model of a photograph by The Related Press zooms in on gadgets on the desk throughout a gathering amongst United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on board a prepare to Kyiv in Shegyni, Ukraine, on Could 9 [AP]
Elysee, the official X account of the French presidency and the Elysse Palace presidential residence, posted photos that additionally confirmed what gave the impression to be a tissue on the desk. It mentioned 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 dwelling. We should stay vigilant towards manipulation.”
In an electronic mail to PolitiFact, a German authorities spokesperson described Jones’s allegation as “absurd”.
Jones’s put up additionally acquired one other element improper. He mentioned Zelenskyy “had simply hosted” Macron, Starmer and Merz. Nonetheless, the information reviews mentioned the leaders had been on their strategy to meet Zelenskyy when the photographs and movies had been captured; they’d not already met with him.
We requested digital forensic consultants to analyse the close-up picture Jones posted that he alleged “clearly” confirmed a bag. Specialists mentioned they had been unconvinced it was genuine.
V.S. Subrahmanian, a Northwestern College laptop science professor, and Hany Farid, a College of California digital forensic skilled, informed PolitiFact that the picture might have been modified utilizing synthetic intelligence, producing a picture which will make the article look much less like a tissue.
How did the cocaine narrative unfold?
Darren Linvill, a Clemson College communication professor who research Russian disinformation campaigns, mentioned he noticed the earliest mentions of this narrative in French on Could 10.
At about 7:34 ET on Could 11, Russian Overseas Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted pictures of the assembly on the messaging app Telegram; she’d added crimson circles across the white object on the desk. Her caption mentioned Macron, Starmer and Merz had forgotten “to place away their paraphernalia” earlier than journalists arrived to take photographs, in keeping with a Guardian report and a Google Translate translation of her put up from Russian to English. Her put up additionally described Zelenskyy as an “unbalanced drug addict” who used cocaine in 2022.
Linvill mentioned the false narrative proliferated throughout English social media – together with X, Fb and Reddit – on the morning of Could 11. It was amplified and popularised by “accounts recognized to be a part of the Russian Storm-1516 marketing campaign distribution community”, he mentioned.
Russian disinformation consultants 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 mentioned. “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, mentioned the cocaine declare tapped into “a long-running Kremlin narrative” that Zelenskyy makes use of medication.
A senior Russian official in 2024 referred to as Zelenskyy an “illegitimate drug addict” and accused him of making an attempt to proceed the Ukrainian conflict to protect his energy.
In 2022, PolitiFact additionally fact-checked a deceptively edited video that mentioned it confirmed Zelenskyy saying he does cocaine. Within the authentic video, Zelenskyy mentioned 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 reviews supporting claims that Zelenskyy makes use of medication.
Radnitz mentioned far-right on-line influencers like Jones typically disseminate pro-Kremlin conspiracy theories. Some reviews have mentioned 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 embody world leaders as a way to discredit an in any other case profitable diplomatic engagement for Ukraine,” Radnitz mentioned.
*PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.*
