00:04Welcome to The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking show.
00:07Has French footballer Kylian Mbappé accused President Emmanuel Macron of sexual harassment?
00:13That question might sound a bit strange, but that's what a supposed Eurosport headline claims,
00:18which is being shared on social media with a video reporting the same thing.
00:22According to the story, Macron's inappropriate behaviour was one of the main reasons
00:27why the football star decided to leave Paris Saint-Germain for Real Madrid in 2024.
00:32The president supposedly inappropriately touched Mbappé,
00:35made sexual comments and even offered him luxury gifts such as a Rolex watch.
00:40However, none of this is true.
00:41The article was published on a fake copycat website designed to mimic the real Eurosport
00:46and there are no credible reports anywhere that Mbappé has made any such allegations.
00:51The fake website's address is euro-sport.fr,
00:55whereas the real news outlet carries the address euro-sport.fr without the dash.
01:00It's a small difference designed to trip people in combination with stealing Eurosport's visual identity.
01:05The voiceover on the video is very likely AI-generated due to its slow pace and robotic tone.
01:11The voice supposedly belonging to Mbappé also lacks the natural inflections,
01:16breathing and emotional variation of a human.
01:19The false report appears to feed off viral memes depicting Macron as a huge fan of Mbappé's.
01:24Many ex-users have been sharing this clip of the president pulling Mbappé towards him
01:29during a team photo ahead of the FIFA World Cup,
01:31supposedly showing his admiration for the footballer.
01:34Others have linked it to a different meme which suggests that Mbappé is the true leader of France.
01:39Either way, we're likely to see even more misleading or outright false claims
01:44about the World Cup and its participants online as the tournament kicks off.
01:48So, enjoy the football, but beware of online disinformation.
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