Between 2018 and 2020, French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) commissioned a communication agency to create false Twitter accounts to launch hostile campaigns against rivals of the capital club, the investigation portal Mediapart revealed last Wednesday.
Mediapart publishes a report on the company Digital Big Brother (DBB), based in Barcelona and controlled by the Franco-Tunisian businessman Lotfi Bel Had. According to this online newspaper, this agency created “an army of trolls” at the service of the club owned by Qatar to discredit personalities, journalists and even players from the team itself.
What did PSG want with that strategy?
Among the targets, according to the report, were:
- “Media hostile to PSG” such as Mediapart and L’Equipe
- The fan attacked by Neymar (after PSG’s defeat in the French Cup final in 2019)
- The young woman who accused the Brazilian star of rape
- The footballer of the team Adrien Rabiot
- Former sports director Antero Henrique
Mediapart indicated that the Parisian star Kylian Mbappé was also “splashed”. According to the DBB report consulted by Mediapart, the digital army at the service of the capital club “was supervised by the PSG communication service“. This group was directed at that time by Jean-Martial Ribes; the latter left the club in May to sign for the communication service of a subsidiary of the luxury giant LVMH.
How did it operate?
The army’s strategy revolved around a “reference” account, Paname Squad. This was presented on Twitter “as a group of PSG fans”. Contacted by AFP, PSG “completely denied Mediapart’s allegations”.
“PSG is an international brand that works permanently with social media agencies around the world. This was intended to promote and celebrate the achievements of the club, its collaborators and its partners, like all companies. The club has never hired an agency to harm someone”, he added.
A source, familiar with the agreement, confirmed to AFP that PSG did contact the DBB company but rejects any request for attacks by the club against players or personalities.
