Paris Saint-Germain has operated an online troll army through an outside agency, taunting competitors and enemies of the club. This is apparent from research by Digital Big Brother, the agency that carried out the campaign itself. Research site media part has published the results. The accounts operated under different names, blackmailing the likes of Kylian Mbappé, French journalists and media, and hostile clubs like Olympique Lyon and Olympique Marseille.
The report reveals shocking details. “It happened from 2018 to 2020 in consultation with the PSG communications department,” concludes media part. “A digital army of fake accounts was set up on Twitter and carried out hard attacks against all kinds of targets.” Remarkably, the troll army turned against Mbappe in 2019, among other things, when he was about to leave PSG. “Shut up and get to work. Show what you can on the pitch,” tweeted the PSG-powered Paname Squad.
Paris Saint-Germain says in a response to the report that it is not aware of any harm. “We have never signed a contract with an agency to defame individuals or organizations,” the response reads. media part indicates that there was no contract between PSG and executive Digital Big Brother. However, the club paid the agency for the work. The Paname Squad account was provided with news and sensitive information by PSG and was therefore very popular with the fans and French media.
Dozens of other accounts also participated in the virtual attacks. “They had to guard the image of the club and influence other accounts by spreading information, rumors and scandals,” said the report from executive company Digital Big Brother. “Our role was to implement the strategy of the communications director (of the club, ed.) on digital platforms.” There was also a massive call on Twitter for the well-known French sports newspaper L’Equipe boycott when they criticized Paris Saint-Germain several times.
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