When French President Emmanuel Macron was criticised on X by a prominent Donald Trump supporter for his opposition to the US President's Greenland demands, an official French government account responded in an unusual way: “Colonialism doesn't work – trust us,” it said.
This decidedly undiplomatic approach is the sort of riposte the French Foreign Ministry has charged its social media team to deliver. It's about taking on the keyboard warriors with a taste of their own medicine.
French Response is attracting attention and gaining followers as it tries a more “banter” approach to its critics, mostly in English.
In a world in which Europeans have been increasingly left blindsided by Mr Trump, or destabilised by Russia's war in Ukraine, France has decided to break with diplomatic tradition and broaden its audience beyond those who read official press releases.
“XIXth Century calling” was how it responded to a post suggesting there was nothing new in the US buying land accompanied by a map of territories it purchased to become a superpower.
An accusation by Russian special envoy on Ukraine, Kirill Dmitriev, that the EU and UK have no cards to play was met by a clip of James Bond playing poker in the film Casino Royale.
French Response has also pointed at a contradiction involving Mr Dmitriev, who found a way to post on X accusing the EU of wanting to ban the platform, despite it being banned in Russia. The post was curt: “VPN guy.”
Europe isn't panicking, it's “checking its hairline. Repeatedly” it said in response to a US Homeland Security News account saying the EU was in a panic over American pressure to take Greenland by force, accompanied with pictures of Mr Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer looking ruffled.
Behind the account sits a team of French diplomats who have been tasked by Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot to respond to disinformation with a tone he has described as “self-deprecating” and “frank”.
“The first goal is to provide a rapid response to adversaries that attack us on social networks. It can be extremely fast, extremely reactive,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told The National from his office in Paris.
“The way we try to answer with impact. So that means we sometimes have a tone which is not really diplomatic because we want to adopt the grammar that is used on these platforms.”
In a few months, French Response has attracted more than 60,000 followers and 15 million engagements per week. “The team is also learning by doing,” Mr Confavreux said.
Europe wants 'respect'
French Response's first post in September was aimed at an American audience after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused France of derailing hostage negotiations in Gaza by recognising Palestine. In a thread, it presented a detailed timeline explaining why negotiations had collapsed before recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The account has since developed a more snarky tone, pointing earlier this month at longer life expectancy in Europe versus the US after US Health Secretary Robert Kennedy claimed that Germany mistreats hospital patients. Such attacks are viewed in Europe as an attempt by the Trump administration to bolster the European far-right and destroy democratic values on the continent. Some posts have also been written in Russian, while others appeared to respond to accounts manned in China.
While Moscow and Beijing are widely viewed as enemies in Western Europe, the US is a historic ally that European leaders have publicly sought to appease. But they are now toughening their stance as Greenland's sovereignty becomes a red line, both in person and online.
Mr Macron has called for the EU to use its so-called trade bazooka, an anti-coercion instrument originally designed with China, not the US, in mind, and followed up a tough-talking speech in Davos with an X post saying: “We prefer science to conspiracy theories, rule of law to rule of force, dialogue to threats.”
The pushback has angered tariff-toting Mr Trump. The US President has dismissed Mr Macron personally, saying that he will be “out of office very soon”. The French President left Davos late on Tuesday without attempting to talk to Mr Trump in person. A few days earlier, he had texted Mr Trump suggesting they meet with other leaders in Paris.
European officials are aware that alienating Mr Trump is an unpredictable and possibly costly affair if they enter a full-blown trade war. Germany has adopted a more low-profile approach but was reported to be rallying French calls to use the EU's trade bazooka against the US.
Shameful or assertive?
With French Response, France is using similar language used by the US and appears to be inspired by the pro-Trump X account Rapid Response 47, launched by the White House last year. The goal is to go viral and to signal that, contrary to Mr Trump's claims, Europe is not weak. The stance has been welcomed by commentators urging a more assertive Gaullist approach to international policy.
Others have reacted with outrage. Far-right, anti-EU politician Florian Philippot wrote “shameful” under a post by French Response that showed a picture of billionaire businessman and X owner Elon Musk appearing to give a Nazi salute.
The image, which had no comment, was shared in response to Mr Musk asking “why is the UK government so fascist?” It was reposted 13,000 times and attracted 3,000 comments.
French officials say France, and more broadly Europe, is engaged in an “informational war”. The French Response account is a tool that also plays the role of deterrent, Mr Confavreux said. The ministry has not ruled out the use of other social media platforms.
He added: “You don’t win a war of information if you don’t wage a battle.”
