What interest should an entity have in affecting some presidential elections?

The case of the French elections of 2017 and the #MacronLeaks affair.

The French elections of April 2017 come after the François Hollande presidency, whom is a left-wing figure of the “Parti Socialiste”. His presidency was marked by several crisis such as the terrorist attack of Paris. He faced many complex situations that exposed him as an unpopular and unserious candidate for the election. As a result, the first poll draws the left parties as weakened and the right party (Les Républicains) as the strong and serious forces for the presidency. Even though Les Républicains were presented as the foreseen president, the right candidate François Fillon was politically doomed by judicial affairs that drastically decrease his approval rating. 

On the other hand, we have Emmanuel Macron who create the political party “En Marche” that make a huge political disequilibrium. It is a party of the centre that aim the disappointed voters from the right and the left. This new political order weakens the classical right and left party in aid of far right and far left party. This is in this context that Macron goes to the second round as the Front-runner, followed by Marine Le Pen the Far-right candidate to the presidency.  

If we leave aside the French political context, the American campaign for the presidency of 2016 was also an important parameter. This election was a turning point to perfectly understand what happened in France’ election 2017. This was the first time candidates, in this case mainly Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, used social media to spread legitimate news and fake news. This new method highly influences the elections in favour of Donald trump. This experience made French politicians very careful about that recent channel of communication.          

What alter the election?

 At the end of the first round, Emmanuel Macron (centrist candidate) and Marine Le Pen (Far right candidate) pass to the second round and so continue their campaign. Just some hours before the legal end of the political campaign, nearly 15Go of internal data of the “En marche” party leaked. Emails, accounting record and exchanges intern of the Macron’ team were uploaded on Twitter under the #MacronLeaks. The timing of leaking documents was too short for Macron’ response.

To preserve the democratic process the France’s presidential electoral authority, the CNCCEP, asked the media to avoid transmitting information from the leaked documents and reminded them of their responsibilities given the “seriousness of the election”. Emilio Ferrara study what happen with the #MacronLeaks affair by wondering how it could have spread that fast. After gathering millions of tweets around this affair, he highlights that the important scattering of the leaks was due to the utilisation of bots and automated accounts. This large campaign of disinformation was supported by Russian media. According to the “Alliance for Securing Democracy”, Russian state media like Sputnik and RT were relaying fake news about the French candidate of the centre.

The #Macronleaks impact on the election

When this kind of affair arrive without any clear author we must think of who benefits from the crime? In that case the discrediting of Emmanuel Macron benefits his opponent: Marine Le Pen. In 2023 Marine Le Pen (President of the Front Nationale) was accused of Russian funding during 2014 for the campaign of 2017. It is therefore no coincidence that Russian media and hackers participate to cyberattacks against the frontrunner of the French presidency. The idea was to gaslight the real political programme of Emmanuel Macron by fulfilling social media with private exchange, documents and so on. Eventually, the impact was limited; it doesn’t have changed the voting intentions drastically and thus don’t change the outcome of the election.

What did the “Macronleaks” affair mark in French political history?

The “Macronleaks” case of 2017 was the first real democratic threat from social media. Although the outcome of the French election of 2017 was not altered by the #Macronleaks affair, it could have. Since social media became the main component of the political communication, political figures have to be present in those spaces. An important section of the population is present on social media, that’s why fake news is impactful to politicians and even more during crucial moment like presidential election.

The 2025 actuality was marked by the French government attributing the hackings of the Macron’ campaign in 2017 to Russian hackers affiliated with the Russian military. The attribution of the French government to hackers’ group like “fancy bear” for the Hacking campaign replace this affair as an operation of foreign influence. Unfortunately, the same process and the same aim was repeat during the election of 2022 with the exact same configuration. Macron against Le Pen during the second round, social media platforms were bombarding of fake news against Macron.

Such disinformation campaign will probably become systematic during elections, destabilizing the democratic system of the nations. With the growing disinterest of the people in the political machine, the communication in every channel is the best tool politicians can use to still be present. The effect of such manipulation of the reality could be very impactful in every sphere of life and especially into politics.  

About the author:

ROGER-FLAMMAND Léo is a French student on the Bachelor's degree programme in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). He studies at the Catholic University of Lille (ESPOL). His interests include marketing and political communication.

Bibliography:

Emilio Ferrara, 31/07/2017: “Disinformation and social bot operations in the run up to the 2017 French presidential election”

Available at:  https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/8005 (Last seen : 17/12/2025)

Vie publique, French republic website : ‘Perception de la politique et vote ce qui change.’

Available at: https://www.vie-publique.fr/parole-dexpert/268517-perception-de-la-politique-et-vote-ce-qui-change (Last seen: 17/12/2025)

La Dépêche, 05/05/2017 : « France/présidentielle: un piratage massif touche la campagne Macron » Available at : https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/05/05/2569096-election-presidentielle-l-equipe-macron-denonce-un-piratage-massif.html? (Last seen : 17/12/2025)

Berlin policy journal, August 29, 2019 :  Lessons of #MacronLeaks

Available at : https://berlinpolicyjournal.com/lessons-of-macronleaks/ (Last seen : 17/12/2025)

The Guardian, 6 May 2017 : French media warned not to publish Emmanuel Macron leaks

Available at : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/06/french-warned-not-to-publish-emmanuel-macron-leaks?  (Last seen : 17/12/2025)