Fake video claiming ‘coup in France’ goes viral – not even Macron could immediately get it removed

Sometime in the second week of December, an improbable video began making the rounds on French-language social media. France, it claimed, was subject to a coup d’état, and President Emmanuel Macron had possibly been deposed. The video, an AI-generated fake, racked up millions of views and caused alarm with at least one African leader. At first, not even the French president could get Meta to take it down.