Emmanuel Macron Leaks: Authorities Ask Media to Think Before They Act Considering ‘Seriousness’ of Elections
Whilst a cyber security unit is all set to investigate the French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron leaks matter, the nation’s electoral commission has warned media not to publish any detail relating to the documents leaked.
France’s electoral commission conducted an emergency meeting to discuss the Emmanuel Macron leaks. In the meeting, the commission claimed that the information being unveiled after the document leaks were “false.” The regulator issued a warning stating that if media or internet users are found spreading or publishing leaked documents, they will be subject to prosecution.
A leak of documents and emails were reported on Friday afternoon as soon as the items hit the internet. The documents were obtained because of a “massive and coordinated hacking attack” conducted on Emmanuel Macron as well as individuals associated with his election campaign. The leak came two days ahead of the Sunday votes when France was planning to make a choice between Macron and his rival far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
Macron and his team confirmed that a hacking attack has violated their political movement’s privacy. The En Marche! team also admitted that the leaked documents were real. In addition, however, they also stated that fake details were being spread on the social media to damage the image of the party as well as the presidential candidate. The statement also claimed that the spread of the fake information was to “sow doubt and disinformation.”
CNCCEP, the nation’s electoral authority, warned media not to publish details of the leaked documents and also mentioned about their responsibilities seeing the situations arising while French elections are around the corner.
“This attack has resulted in the publication of a number of important documents presented as having come from the information system of the candidate and the message accounts of certain of their campaign officials on certain social networks,” the commission released a statement after the emergency meeting on Saturday.
“The commission stresses that the dissemination or republication of such information, fraudulently obtained and which may, in all likelihood, have been mixed with false information, is liable to be classified as criminal in several respects for which its authors will be held responsible.”
WikiLeaks shared a website’s link where users were allowed to download the leaked documents. The non-profit entity, on the other hand, also claimed to have been “examining” the matter. It wrote later that Emmanuel Macron leaks “contains many tens of thousands of emails, photos, attachments up to April 24, 2017.” WikiLeaks also added that it was not an economically intelligent decision to “fabricate” the leaked content as a whole, whereas the CIA called WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service.”
While France seems completely disturbed after the Emmanuel Macron document hack and leak matter, America and Russia are the main suspects in the matter. As Russia has already been accused of tampering with the results of the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, it became the prime suspect of Emmanuel Macron document leak.
The opinion polls conducted recently have shown how convenient it is for Macron to win with a major share of votes, thereby defeating his competitor. It is not the first time when Russia has been accused of alleged negative involvement in the French presidential elections. Even previously, En Marche! claimed Russian involvement with repeated unsuccessful cyber attacks. Macron’s team said that the nation intended to steal important credentials in January.
The investigation of the Emmanuel Macron leaks also confirmed the involvement of an American activist in spreading the email leak on Friday. The Washington Bureau chief, Jack Posobiec, has been accused of the crime. It is reported that the American is a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump and is also a pro-Marine Le Pen.
[Featured Image by Sylvain Lefevre / Getty Images]
