Was there a WhatsApp leak in France that revealed the imminent arrest on May 6, 2025 of right-wing politicians Marine Le Pen, Marion Maréchal, Sarah Knafo and Florian Philippot as reported in a video from the "FP+" channel ? No, that's not true: That channel is part of the website of French magazine Front Populaire, which did not publish any story about arrest warrants leaked via WhatsApp. According to specialized detection tools the audio in the video was generated using artificial intelligence.
A copy of the video appeared in a post on X (archived here) where it was published on April 30, 2025 with a description that read:
‼️👉💬🎥A new Whatsapp leak shows that Macron's regime makes another move to suppress democracy in France issuing arrest warrant for every popular leader of the right-wing opposition including Marine Le Pen whose house arrest and probation will be replaced with a real jail time on May 6!
The video contained a logo that looked like the letters F (in red) and P (in black) and a red "plus" symbol, which is the watermark of the video channel "FP+" of French political magazine/website Front Populaire.
A search of the website of the Front Populaire did not bring up any videos mentioning "WhatsApp" at all (archived here) at the time of writing.
Two AI detectors -- DeepFake-o-Meter and and Hiya in the InVid verification plugin showed that the audio was likely not authentic:
Transcribed using Google Pinpoint, the voiceover in the story read following text in French (Google translation below):
Un nouveau scandale éclate en France juste un mois après la condamnation de la présidente du groupe parlementaire du parti d'extrême droite le rassemblement national Marine Le Pen. Les journalistes ont découvert les mandats d'amener émis contre plusieurs leaders issus de partis politiques d'extrême droite en France.
Parmi les personnes visées par ces mandats d'amener figure chef du parti du rassemblement national Marine Le Pen, président du mouvement conservateur identité liberté Marion Maréchal, membre du parti d'extrême droite Quitte d'Eric Zemmour, Sarah Knafo, ainsi que le président du groupe des patriotes Florian Filipo. Toutes ces personnes sont opposées à l'immigration incontrôlée en France à l'aide financière à l'Ukraine et soutiennent l'idée du Brexit.
Selon les informations indiquées dans les mandats d'amener, les autorités françaises prévoient de remplacer l'assignation à résidence de Marine Le Pen par une peine de prison ferme et d'incarcérer également d'autres leaders issus de partis politiques de droite.
La fuite d'informations provient d'une discussion dans le groupe sur WhatsApp nommé chat du tribunal de Paris ou figurait le ministre de la justice Gérard Darmanin, le ministre de l'Intérieur Bruno Rattayo, le doyen des juges d'instruction Simon Branquel et d'autres. D'après les échanges dans le chat, les autorités françaises prévoient de délivrer des mandats d'amener le 6 mai. Bien que les raisons du choix de cette date reste inconnue.
Parmi les accusations portées contre ces personnalités de l'opposition figure. Des atteintes au respect dû à la justice, détournement de fonds publics, incitation à la haine, à la violence ou à la discrimination, des atteintes à la paix publique. À ce jour, les autorités françaises n'ont donné aucun commentaire officiel sur cette affaire.
In English, based on the subtitles in the video:
A new scandal has erupted in France just one month after the conviction of Marine Le Pen, the chairwoman of the parliamentary group of the far-right National Rally party. Journalists have discovered arrest warrants issued against several leaders of far-right political parties in France.
Individuals targeted by these arrest warrants are:
- Leader of the National Rally party, Marine Le Pen
- President of the conservative Identity and Liberty movement, Marion Maréchal
- Member of Eric Zemmour's far-right Quit party, Sarah Knafo
- and the president of the Patriots group, Florian Philippot
All of these individuals oppose uncontrolled immigration to France, financial aid to Ukraine, and support Brexit.
According to information contained in the arrest warrants, French authorities plan to replace Marine Le Pen's house arrest with a prison sentence and to also incarcerate other leaders of right-wing political parties.
The leaked information stems from a discussion in the WhatsApp group called the Paris Court Chat, which included Justice Minister Gérard Darmanin, Interior Minister Bruno Rattayo, senior investigating judge Simon Branquel, and others. According to the exchanges in the chat, French authorities plan to issue arrest warrants on May 6. The reasons for choosing this date remain unknown.
Lead Stories reached out by email to Front Populaire via the email listed on their website and we will update this story when we receive a reply.
