On the day following the first presidential debate hosted by French TV channel TF1, the National Front party treasurer, Wallerand de Saint Just, posted on Twitter a falsified poll carried out by French newspaper Le Figaro.

The visual of this poll includes Le Figaro’s logo and indicates that 32% of respondents answered “Marine Le Pen” when asked the question “Who was most convincing during last night’s debate?”. This poll cannot however be found on Le Figaro’s website, as quickly noticed by Le Figaro’s head of social media in answer to the tweet.

(Translation Tweet 1: ‘Survey @Le_Figaro “who was the most convincing?” @MLP_official largely in the lead…’ Tweet 2: ‘Hello @wdesaintjust! We cannot find these numbers anywhere on our website – where did you find them?’)

Wallerand de Saint Just’s tweet assures that Marine Le Pen is “largely in the lead…”

Le Figaro did indeed publish an online poll on the 20th of March asking the question “Which candidate did you find most convincing?”. However, the poll numbers differ greatly from those put forward in Wallerand de Saint Just’s tweet. On March 21st at 4 p.m. Marine Le Pen had 18% of the respondent’s votes, putting her behind François Fillon (41%) and Emmanuel Macron (24%).

Contacted by CrossCheck, Wallerand de Saint Just claims to have found his figures on Twitter and not on “Le Figaro”.

Tweets shared more than a hundred times claim that French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon wears a 17,750€ Rolex watch. Yet, the photos used to support this claim have obviously been sourced elsewhere.

"Un bon communiste !" pic.twitter.com/n1Dgi90fD5

— Stalker (@_Stalker_69_) March 20, 2017

(Translation: ‘A relaxed Jean-Luc Mélenchon with a Rolex worth 17,750€’)

This photo-collage dates back to April 2016. It appears frequently on Twitter accounts and Facebook pages affiliated to the French extreme right. However, the author of the initial post, who presents himself as an environmental activist, has insisted several times that the photo-collage is a hoax.

https://twitter.com/Alex_Le_Rouge/status/721841859077779456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

(Translation: ‘Those people who really believe that Mélenchon has a Rolex must really learn how to think.’)

In April 2016, Jean-Luc Mélenchon denied the rumour, writing on his website that he did not own a Rolex and did not desire one either. The website France TV Info also concluded that the watch the European deputy of the Left Party wears was a model from the Seiko 5 line, which costs between 70€ and 200€ depending on the model.

French website “Fdesouche” (native F(rench)) shared the results of a CNRS study on radical religious ideas in high schools. According to the website, «in certain high schools, 44% of Muslim students believe it is acceptable to “take up arms for one’s religion”». This figure was taken out of context.

The CNRS study focused on 7000 students in 21 high schools with higher numbers of students from social categories which are «less studied in traditional studies because of the lack of staff resources». As indicated in the report, it refers to «young people from lower classes or migrant backgrounds» for example. The study’s aim is to analyze the radicalization factors amongst young people. But Fdesouche mistakenly deduced that «in certain high schools, 44% of Muslim students believe it is acceptable to take up arms for one’s religion».

This 44% figure doesn’t represent the share of Muslim students in the high schools selected for the study. It refers to another category of students, defined by the CNRS report as students of any religious beliefs who also show «religious absolutism» and «tolerance towards violence». Four percent of the 7000 students have both characteristics. The figure rises to 12% for young Muslims in the study.

In fact, amongst the 4% of high school students exhibiting both characteristics (tolerance towards violence and absolutism), 44% believe it is acceptable, «in some current social situations» to fight for one’s religion. This does not concern solely Muslim students but rather students of all religious beliefs. Hence Fdesouche’s title is doubly misleading.