Check First and Samsa immerse French journalists in a virtual foreign interference campaign

Since our beginnings, we have investigated disinformation campaigns and political advertising during elections, covering many European and presidential elections in countries such as Finland, Romania and France. However, FIMI can also target smaller territories, including cities. In this regard, the imminent French local elections are under particular scrutiny, as evidenced by the growing number of candidates who have recently been targeted by disinformation campaigns. 

As this phenomenon poses a real danger to democracy, newsrooms must be better prepared to react quickly and explain it to their audience. That’s why we partnered with the French training organisation Samsa to develop an immersive training programme simulating a foreign interference campaign, using our Tutki platform (formerly known as Oppi). We then invited Radio France journalists to explore a tailored scenario. 

A normal day in Porteval

We took our trainees on a virtual day trip to Porteval, a fictional city on the French Mediterranean coast. There, the local elections pitted the outgoing leftist mayor against her far-right opponent and the trolls rooting for him. The journalists had to navigate the content that we had created specifically for this scenario, ranging from lifestyle videos on the beach to fake contracts with an obscure company in Azerbaijan, all of which were presented on realistic social media simulations. This immersive workshop helped participants to recognise and study inauthentic behaviours spread by hostile actors on the internet more effectively. 

Following our training session in Armenia in November 2025, this experience has further convinced us that raising awareness of disinformation campaigns can be practical, entertaining and applicable to a wide audience of media professionals throughout Europe. We would like to thank once again our partner Samsa for their trust, and we look forward to organising future training sessions, the next of which is scheduled on April 9th in Tours.

Tutki is also available as a standalone platform for trainers in nine languages, so never hesitate to contact us!

Want to enhance your skills to fight against disinformation campaigns as a journalist? Reach out at contact@checkfirst.network. The one-day training mentioned in this blogpost is available in Samsa’s online catalogue for French newsrooms.