Published on: 21/04/2022 – 18:59 On April 21, several Twitter accounts opposed to the current government shared a video supposed to show a person falsifying the presence of LREM deputies in the National Assembly. But these images have been circulating for several years on social networks and were actually shot in kyiv in the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Verification in brief On April 21, several Twitter accounts opposed to the presidential majority shared a video to denounce the absenteeism of LREM deputies. According to them, these images shot in a hemicycle would demonstrate that deputies would have resorted to arrangements to falsify their presence in the National Assembly. However, several visual clues confirm that this video was not filmed in the National Assembly but in the Ukrainian parliament. Thanks to a reverse image search, we find articles proving that this same intox had already been shared in 2018. The detail of the verification “Do you know the story of the ghost MPs? It’s very simple, you give your card to a friend and he badges for you, you’re not there but you get paid anyway”. Since April 21, several Twitter accounts opposed to the government of Emmanuel Macron have shared with this legend a video supposed to demonstrate that LREM deputies would use arrangements to hide their absences from the National Assembly. In these images seen more than 20,000 times, we see a man moving around in a hemicycle in order to place cards in several voting machines. Screenshot of one of the tweets sharing this video supposed to demonstrate the absenteeism of French deputies. 04/21/2022. © Observers Find the origin of these images These accounts claim that these images would show the scheme put in place by LREM deputies. Some also accompany this video with a link to an article published in January 2020 by Le Parisien and entitled “LREM: the mystery of phantom deputies in the National Assembly”. But several visual clues make it possible to question this hypothesis: the gray ground, the presence of a ribbon in the colors of Ukraine, the color of the cards placed in the voting machines… All these elements do not correspond to the hemicycle from the Bourbon Palace which houses the French National Assembly, but rather to the Rada, namely the Ukrainian parliament. Examples of visual clues that make it possible to affirm that this video was taken in the Ukrainian Parliament. 04/21/2022. © Observers To verify the origin of this video, a reverse image search (see here how to do it) returns to articles written in 2018 by Italian and French media. These articles relate that in 2018, this same intox circulated in Brazil, Italy or even France, and accused the deputies of these different countries of concealing their absences. These media explain that the context of these images remains unknown but that they were indeed shot in the Ukrainian parliament. They therefore have no connection with the Brazilian, Italian or even French deputies. We have not been able to find the date and the exact context of this video, but it is clear that it is shot in the Ukrainian parliament and that it is an old hoax taken up today in order to accuse the LREM deputies.