France 24 Arabic acknowledges professional error and apologizes after broadcasting a false message attributed to Nasser Bourita
The television channel France 24 Arabic issued an official apology on Monday, February 23, after broadcasting a false message attributed to Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita during the program Face à face.
In a statement released following the broadcast, the channel acknowledged that the message presented on air as coming from the Moroccan foreign minister had in fact been published by a fake account impersonating him on the platform X. France 24 admitted that it had relayed a post originating from this fraudulent profile and expressed regret for the verification failure.
The message in question claimed that Morocco had paid one billion dollars in order to join the “Board of Peace,” a diplomatic initiative recently mentioned by Donald Trump.
Following checks carried out after the controversy erupted, the account behind the disputed publication was reportedly traced to Algeria. This identification was reportedly made possible by new transparency measures introduced on the platform X at the end of 2025, which allow certain data related to accounts flagged for impersonation or manipulation to be displayed.
These elements have fueled the hypothesis of a targeted disinformation operation exploiting the identity of the Moroccan minister in a sensitive diplomatic context.
The incident also raises a key question: how could a major international media outlet consider an account attributed to Nasser Bourita to be authentic when the Moroccan minister does not maintain any official account on X? To date, the only recognized institutional channel for official communication from Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs remains the “Maroc Diplomatie” platform.
The episode highlights the growing challenges facing international media organizations in verifying digital content, particularly with the increasing number of parody and impersonation accounts circulating online.
The controversy comes at a time of notable warming in relations between Rabat and Paris, reinforced since the state visit of Emmanuel Macron to Morocco at the end of 2024, which marked a renewed commitment to the strategic partnership between the two countries and France’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over its Sahara.
Translated from Abderrazzak Boussaid’s French article – le7tv
