Municipal: on Twitter, these parody accounts which come to "troll" the real candidates

But who is hiding behind? Since the start of the municipal election campaign, several parody accounts on Twitter have mocked candidates in big cities, when they do not pour into more frontal attacks or even insults.

In Paris, each of the applicants has their own, or almost: "Anne_Hidalgo Official Parody" for the mayor of Paris, "Grivologies" and "Sandrine Mazoutée [parody of Mazetier]" for the LREM candidate Benjamin Griveaux and one of his heads Sandrine Mazetier, "Vilenie Paris" for the dissident majority contender Cédric Villani, etc. In Marseille, the candidate Les Républicains (LR) Martine Vassal is entitled to her "Martine Vammal". And Gérard Collomb must compose, in Lyon, with "gerardcollomb2020" which, as its name does not indicate, is parodic. All of them have only a few hundred or thousands of subscribers, but they are very active.

Parody but political opposition

For Paris, the common point of the people who manage these accounts is to present themselves as "ordinary people". "We point out the factitious and insincere aspect of this application", asserts one of the people behind "Grivologies". "The goal is to denounce his weather vane," adds Quentin *, who manages the account "Sandrine Mazoutée", with his wife. On January 6, he reproached Sandrine Mazetier for using “photos from before June 2017, with activists and elected officials [whom she has betrayed… and who are against [her]! ".

Without embarrassment, and even in a risky outlaw, my clone still uses photos from before June 2017, with activists and elected officials that I betrayed ... and who are against me! #Droitalimage #mazetier #griveaux # youth pic.twitter.com/FNJjGtyHIw

But the couple, who "assume they are on the left", do not hide their political opposition to Benjamin Griveaux in person, a former socialist elected representative and one of the first to have joined Emmanuel Macron in 2016. "Sandrine Mazoutée" retweete d ' elsewhere often messages of "Grivologies". Like this January 12, in response to a campaign poster pasted over a call to demonstrate against PMA for all: “Once is not custom, En Marche! and Benjamin Griveaux call to clean up Paris of La Manif Pour Tous instead of recycling the supporters. ”

# UNRELEASED Once is not custom, @enmarchefr and @BGriveaux call to clean #Paris from @LaManifPourTous instead of recycling the supporters. # LeKärcherPourTous https://t.co/Q9Q818UrrC

Cédric Villani is mocked by his fake digital avatar "Vilenie Paris", which shares images of the now dissident candidate LREM when he was chairman of the support committee for Anne Hidalgo, in 2014.

Look forward to celebrating with my dear Anne Hidalgo her victory! https://t.co/w2XJsygsSv pic.twitter.com/FW7REvSNTZ

The mayor of Paris is not spared. Anne Hidalgo is targeted by an inhabitant of the XVIIth district, who wishes to "tell the reality and what is his incompetence". But why does this 57-year-old entrepreneur, who takes care of the “Anne_Hidalgo Official Parody” account alone, not get into the political fight with his face uncovered? To avoid trouble, believe it. "When you are at the head of the company, you have to be neutral, because elected officials have nuisance powers," he judges, a little quickly.

Political Newsletter

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more

On the Mediterranean coast, "Yvre Moraine", pastiche of the mayor LR of the 6th and 8th arrondissements of Marseille Yves Moraine, mocks the state of the sector managed by the elected official and the candidate he supports for mayor, Martine Vassal. The anonymous Marseille resident who keeps this account says he acts "by exasperation at the inconsistency of this mayor" and to "not leave the field completely free to the Gaudin clique (Editor's note: Jean-Claude Gaudin, mayor of Marseille since 1995 and who does not represent himself) ".

Ben what, you wanted trees right? This is green space!
NEVER CONTENT https://t.co/0y7pj1Zmr6

The pace and tone of messages for these different accounts varies. From a joke to a political attack, including the insulting message. As, for example, when the boss of LREM, Stanislas Guérini, is described by "Sandrine Mazoutée" as "egg skull". "We are never remote controlled by anyone," swears the couple. The internet user who laughs at Anne Hidalgo recognizes her “little rebellious soul” and wants to “bring [her] little stone to the fact that she is not re-elected…”

Annoyance of candidates

The teams of candidates consider these parodies with indifference, contempt, but also sometimes annoyance. An advisor to Cédric Villani says, for example, that he “doesn't really” care about “Vilenie_Paris”: “This campaign on Twitter is so bad! ". "We see them pass. It is sometimes nice and mocking, but it is not tolerable when they slip, ”laments one at Benjamin Griveaux, also pointing to the“ TeamAbrutis ”account.

But beware for these candidates not to be trapped themselves, as experienced by the mayor of Lyon and candidate for the metropolis, Gérard Collomb. A leaflet of his campaign invited to follow the Twitter account "GerardCollomb2020" ... which did not exist! And for good reason: the number of characters was too large to be accepted by the social network. As spotted by Lyon Capitale, Internet users have created the “@ gerardcollomb20” account, which uses the slogan “vote Collomb vote congestion” and mocks the candidate's project for road traffic.

The precedent of the "Journal de l'Elysée"

This phenomenon of parody political accounts is nothing new: since August 2018, "Le Journal de l'Elysée" regularly publishes false quotes attributed to ministers or elected officials of the majority. Several LREM deputies, including Amélie de Montchalin, were publicly annoyed with a message "which has nothing of the travesty and all of the lie". If "parody" appears in the identity of this account, nothing, indeed and at first glance, can suggest the fake side of each message.

Enough of #fakenews which spoils political speech and public debate, especially on our elders. To @JournalElysee: whoever you are, partisan or comic Sunday pharmacy, thank you for deleting this tweet which has nothing of the parody and all of the lie. @LaREM_AN https://t.co/nX9LLgk7Wj

What future do these parody accounts, very active during the municipal campaign, see for the future? "The plural of grivologies leaves us the possibility of extending our herbarium," slides the avatar who laughs at the candidate LREM, always with the same tone not at all serious. And perhaps dreaming of the same future as "Journal de l'Elysée". Less than a year and a half after its launch, it is attended by nearly 70,000 people.