“The accounts who have the biggest following have an Arabic-speaking audience spreading over multiple countries,” a government adviser with knowledge of the investigations said. But they have “a wide echo in France,” he said.
The two countries are also at loggerheads over the fate of Boualem Sansal, a 75-year-old French-Algerian writer and outspoken critic of the Algerian regime, who was detained after stepping off a plane in Algiers in November, with Macron accusing Algeria of “dishonoring itself.” The European Parliament on Thursday approved a resolution calling for Sansal’s immediate release, calling it a human rights violation.
Macron’s Western Sahara move came after unsuccessful efforts by the French president to try to mend the relationship. It was interpreted by some as a pragmatic move by Macron, presumably to strengthen its relationship with one of the few remaining allies it has in the region, at the expense of Algeria. A lot of France’s historical allies in the Sahel — many of which are former colonies — turned hostile.
The Western Sahara move and Macron’s open support to Sansal infuriated the Algerian regime, which some are now suspecting of fueling the online campaign powered by members of the Algerian diaspora, either directly or by proxy.
Algerian state-controlled media has a long history of attacking France, fueling the fire of resentment and anger against Paris among part of the Algerian population at home and the Algerian community abroad. After Sansal’s arrest and reports about Macron’s first criticism, Algeria’s state-owned press agency lashed out at France’s political class and accused it of infringing on Algerian sovereignty.
“The Algerian regime is extremely fragile and the more fragile it is, the more it hits France,” said a French diplomatic official who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. “The French position on Western Sahara is seen as a stab in the back.”