The Zemmour meeting in Villepinte, the target of a “coordinated” operation on social networks?

Eric Zemmour will he succeed in entering the campaign? For his first meeting this Sunday in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis), the far-right polemicist wants to make a show of force to reassure his supporters, after a “complicated” week. For this great meeting of “mobilization”, the director of the events of the new candidate, Olivier Ubéda, assures to have identified 19,000 registrants for whom it was necessary to change room, thus abandoning the Zenith of Paris, whose capacity was deemed insufficient.

“It’s absolutely crazy the craze, when we saw candidates in half-empty rooms. We expect a lot of people, ”enthuses Antoine Diers, spokesperson for the Friends of Eric Zemmour. The candidate’s team, and its various supporters, therefore expects a full house at the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte. But will the chairs really all be occupied? For the past few days, Internet users have been calling on Twitter and TikTok to register for Eric Zemmour’s meeting… without going there. A way of “sabotaging” the entry into the campaign of the far-right candidate.

“After having made Zemmour flee from Paris, let’s sabotage the Villepinte meeting”

Many messages sharing this instruction have been published in recent days, especially on Twitter. “Small reminder that we can also rot the meeting of Zemm * ur in Villepinte from home by shielding the registrations to leave an empty room https://croiseedeschemins-ez.fr/paris (you need a valid email to confirm the ‘registration) ”, tweeted a user.

Small reminder that we can also rot the Zemm * ur meeting in Villepinte from home by shielding the registrations to leave an empty room https://t.co/UgPAQiyMpc (you need a valid email to confirm the registration)

— All I want For Christmas is La Révolution (@JPguedas) December 1, 2021

“I registered Mara Boutin and Sophie Fonfec at the Zemmour meeting, I need more puns for other registrations”, or “I finally found a use for my second email address”, can – we can also read among the many messages published on social networks.

Other more militant accounts have also relayed these calls, such as “Action Antifasciste Paris-Banlieue”, followed by more than 18,000 followers. “After making Zemmour flee from Paris, let’s sabotage the Villepinte meeting. The first step is to empty the meeting of its participants! We are relaying the many calls to saturate the Sunday meeting with registrations, ”the organization clearly indicates on Twitter.

???? AFTER DISMISSING ZEMMOUR FROM PARIS, LET’S DAMAGE THE VILLEPINTE MEETING!

The first step is to empty the meeting of its participants!
We relay the many calls to saturate the Sunday meeting with registrations.

For registrations:
➡️ https://t.co/KBUAsXvHZZ pic.twitter.com/9cqJdJ5yhD

– Paris-Banlieue Antifascist Action (@ AFA_Paris75) December 2, 2021

A “coordinated” campaign relayed on social networks, as in the United States

This “coordinated” operation, widely relayed on social networks, is inspired by an online campaign carried out last year by anti-Trump internet users, during the last campaign for the US presidential election. TikTok users – mostly K-pop fans – claimed to have sabotaged a Donald Trump meeting in Tulsa (Oklahoma) in June 2020, by reserving thousands of seats in the Bok Center (meeting room), in order to hijack the online registration system. From the opening of registrations to attend the political rally, they had thus encouraged their subscribers on TikTok to register for the meeting and not to attend.

The bet succeeded, since in the end, the crowd hoped for by the “Trumpists” had not been there, the meeting room being sparse with empty chairs… “By playing on online processes that they master perfectly, thousands of Internet users had coordinated to mislead the campaign team of the American president. It was a fairly spectacular show of force, ”explained at the time to 20 Minutes Tristan Mendès-France, associate lecturer at Paris-Diderot University, specialist in digital cultures.

Trump meeting in Tulsa sabotaged by K-pop fans on TikTok? https://t.co/FpLko2g427

— 20 Minutes (@20Minutes) June 21, 2020

“Do not let them do it and register to come and attend this meeting”

Alerted for a few days of this online offensive, the supporters of Eric Zemmour are trying as best they can to motivate the troops. “The antifas are trying to sabotage Eric Zemmour’s meeting by making thousands of false registrations: do not let them do it and register to come and attend this campaign launch meeting which promises to be extraordinary”, tweeted the account “La Droite avec Eric Zemmour”.

For the press service of the far-right candidate, no worries. “It is a classic and anticipated phenomenon, which will have no impact for us,” he explains. “These are grotesque childishness. Failing to fill rooms like Éric Zemmour, they do that. We prefer to talk to the French than to troll (…) I sleep soundly, ”for his part declared to the magazine Neon Samuel Lafont, head of digital communication for Eric Zemmour’s campaign.