"This is a tissue. For blowing your nose. This is European unity. To build peace." The post, with its mock-educational tone, comes from the Elysée's official X account. Through its sarcasm, it addressed a recent piece of misinformation that was spread over the last weekend, on May 10 and 11: During a diplomatic trip to Kyiv, Emmanuel Macron was, allegedly, photographed with a bag of cocaine – in reality, the white shape was just a paper tissue.

While the attempt to discredit the French president was not particularly sophisticated and its success among pro-Russian conspiracy networks was unsurprising, the tone the Elysée used in its response represents a break with tradition.

In recent years, the use of sarcasm in digital diplomacy had mainly been the preserve of autocratic regimes. "There are actors that are increasingly breaking away from traditional diplomatic rhetoric, with, in Russia's case, a completely uninhibited use of disinformation, even the most outlandish, for strategic purposes," said Maxime Audinet, an associate researcher at the Institute for Strategic Research of the Military Academy (IRSEM) and the author of Russia Today, un média d’influence au service de l’Etat russe ("Russia Today (RT), a media influence tool serving the Russian state").

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