Fury in France over ‘Russian’ deepfake AI video showing Brigitte Macron being accused of sexual assault by former pupil – as Paris blames Putin’s hybrid war

A clip appearing to show of one of Brigitte Macron’s former students accusing the French First Lady of sexually assaulting him as a child has been decried as an AI-generated ‘deepfake’ peddled by Russia.

The video, narrated in French but subtitled in English, sees a likeness of a man named Lionel Torres declare that Mrs Macron attempted to remove his shirt and kiss him when he was a 12-year-old student at the Lucie-Berger college in Strasbourg.

At first glance, the video appears genuine, but it quickly becomes apparent that the man’s face and lips, which appear fuzzy and slightly blurred, are not perfectly synchronised with the clean-cut, robotic speech. 

It was accompanied by several class photos purporting to show a young Torres posing for the camera alongside fellow pupils and a young Mrs Macron. 

‘I haven’t told anyone about it, I thought no one would believe me… I think it’s really scary when such sick people gain so much power,’ the narration concluded. 

French media tracked down the real Lionel Torres and discovered that the now 50-year-old man was indeed a former pupil of Mrs Macron, 72. 

But he confirmed he was never assaulted and criticised the disinformation campaign that hijacked his likeness.

‘I see an image of me, quite badly done, I have to say,’ he told France2. ‘All the allegations made in it, that’s not me and that’s not what happened to me.’ 

The Instagram account responsible for posting the video has been removed from social media, but the clip remains live after it was reposted by several accounts and racked up millions of views.

It is the latest example of several online campaigns targeting Mrs Macron, who was recently accused of being born a man in a viral conspiracy theory amplified by American conservative activist Candace Owens. 

Mrs Macron has not commented on the accusations, but a French government statement released yesterday condemned Russia’s digital interference and disinformation campaigns. 

The video, narrated in French but subtitled in English, sees a likeness of a man named Lionel Torres declare that Mrs Macron attempted to remove his shirt and kiss him when he was a 12-year-old student at the Lucie-Berger college in Strasbourg

French president Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron are seen at Elysee Palace on April 30, 2025 in Paris, France

French media tracked down the real Lionel Torres and discovered that the now 50-year-old man was indeed a former pupil of Mrs Macron, 72. But he confirmed he was never assaulted and criticised the disinformation campaign that hijacked his likeness 

French President Emmanuel Macron’s support for Ukraine has marked Paris out as a prime target for Russian disinformation campaigns.  

Investigations by VIGINUM – a French government agency countering foreign online attacks – traced the origin of the Lionel Torres deepfake video back to Storm-1516, a cyber warfare unit that Paris says ‘is linked to a complex network of individuals and organisations acting from Russian Federation territory’.

‘Since 2023, this cyber attack group has been used in 77 Russian information campaigns targeting France, Ukraine and all Western countries. 

‘The attack group created by Russia as part of its information war uses especially complex, sometimes high-profile distribution patterns, particularly by interfering in electoral ballots,’ the VIGINUM report said. 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added: ‘The European public debate is being pounded by disinformation campaigns conducted by Russian entities and relayed especially by the American far-right.’

Meanwhile, news verification and fact-checking organisation NewsGuard identified at least five disinformation campaigns launched by Storm-1516 targeting France that went viral across social media. 

In addition to the clip accusing Brigitte Macron of sexually assaulting a former student, other videos have shown a man alleging his late brother had an affair with Emmanuel Macron, a migrant from Chad confessing to raping a 12-year-old in France, and members of Islamist militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham vowing to burn down the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

These campaigns came after Candace Owens caused a storm on social media when she openly claimed that Mrs Macron was in fact born a man before going on to share a series of disparaging claims about the French First Lady’s family.

The controversial conservative pundit covered the false story, first published by French right-wing magazine Faits et Documents in 2021, on her show at the Daily Wire.

She declared that Brigitte Macron was actually born Jean-Michel Trogneux before eventually transitioning at age 30. 

American conservative activist Candace Owens caused a storm on social media when she openly claimed that Mrs Macron was in fact born a man before going on to share a series of disparaging claims about the French First Lady’s family 

Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron with US Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha as they arrive for a meeting at the Elysee Palace

The little girl with a pudding bowl haircut sitting on her mother’s knee is Brigitte Macron (née Trogneux), and far left is her brother Jean-Michel 

Brigitte Macron with her daughter Tiphaine Auziere, who spoke out about her mother’s history in an interview with Paris Match

Owens suggested Macron is actually the same person as her older brother, adding: ‘Any journalist or publication that is trying to dismiss this plausibility is immediately identifiable as establishment.’

The debunked conspiracy theory shared by Owens also suggests that Mrs Macron did not give birth to any of her three children, and that her first husband, a 69-year-old retired banker said to have died a recluse in 2020, never existed. 

In 2024, Brigitte won a libel case against the freelance journalist who made the initial claim, yet the vicious and unfounded rumour persists on social media. 

‘I would stake my entire professional career on the fact that Brigitte Macron, the current first lady of France was born a man,’ Owens said. 

Brigitte’s daughter Tiphaine Auziere, a lawyer, has previously talked about the impact of the accusations.

In an interview to mark the publication of a novel she’d written, Tiphaine, now 41, told Paris Match last year: ‘I have concerns about the level of society when I hear what is circulating on social networks about my mother being a man.

‘The confidence with which it is said, and the credibility given to it is proclaimed. How can we resist disinformation on social networks?’

Mr Macron himself has also previously expressed his anger and frustration at the rumours and their effect on their private life.

‘The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios,’ he said. ‘People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.’ 

Beyond the disparaging rumours, the story of Brigitte Macron is fascinating in its own right, and not without scandal.

She first met Emmanuel Macron in September 1992. 

At the time, she was 39, a married mother of three and a teacher at the French Catholic school in Amiens. He was 15 and a pupil in the same class as one of her daughters.

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