Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Daily Beast reports:
The man who now stands a very good chance of becoming the next president of France, Emmanuel Macron, is trying to shore up his campaign against Russian influence that might favor his opponent, far-right candidate and Vladimir Putin favorite Marine Le Pen.
On Monday, the day after Macron and Le Pen beat nine other candidates to enter the second phase of the election, which will culminate in a sudden-death vote on May 7, sources in the Macron campaign told The Daily Beast they have refused accreditation to RT, the Russian international television network. “It is not just an outlet like the others,” said one of these sources, “it is a propaganda organ. Therefore we have decided not to give it accreditation.”
“RT has not received an official reason for its exclusion from the Macron presidential campaign HQ,” the network told The Daily Beast in a statement. “We hope that his team will see fit to afford the courtesy of accreditation to RT shortly, and not attempt to curtail journalism, and manipulate the media, by selecting who can and can’t report on his campaign.”
From the New York Times:
The campaign of the French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has been targeted by what appear to be the same Russian operatives responsible for hacks of Democratic campaign officials before last year’s American presidential election, a cybersecurity firm warns in a new report.
The report has heightened concerns that Russia may turn its playbook on France in an effort to harm Mr. Macron’s candidacy and bolster that of Mr. Macron’s rival, the National Front leader Marine Le Pen, in the final weeks of the French presidential campaign.
Security researchers at the cybersecurity firm, Trend Micro, said that on March 15 they spotted a hacking group they believe to be a Russian intelligence unit turn its weapons on Mr. Macron’s campaign — sending emails to campaign officials and others with links to fake websites designed to bait them into turning over passwords.
The Russian intelligence group allegedly behind the hacking attempt is known as Fancy Bear.