French Ministry of Defence

Main article: France

2023: Hiring an expert of the "troll factory" to fight Russia on the Ukrainian cyber front

The French Ministry of Defense in September 2023 published a vacancy of an "expert on Russian-speaking countries" for cyber operations.

Formal requirements for candidates include experience in intelligence agencies or the "field of social relations," as well as at least three years of experience as an executive.

The "necessary skills" section looks much more interesting. In addition to knowledge of oral and written Russian, the ability to analyze information and work in a team from a future expert is also expected to be able to create and technically maintain accounts of fictional personalities on social networks.

The main task of the specialist will be to carry out information operations of influence: "find or learn personal information from the media and social networks," useful for performing such tasks.

Plans to create a French "troll factory," which will fight Russia with in the vast, Internet were written back in September 2022, but vacancies for senior positions in the unit began to appear quite recently.

Not to say that such a confrontation is some kind of novelty in relations between Russia and France. For example, a whole separate unit of VIGINUM with a staff of more than 65 people and a budget of 7.2 million euros has been operating since at least 2021, fighting "Russian propaganda" and PMC Wagner in Africa.

Now the battlefield will obviously cover other regions, and the French disinformation operations will become more noticeable and more expensive.