Petition Claiming over a Million Signatures Against Immigration Faces Verification Concerns
PARIS – A petition spearheaded by French politician Philippe de Villiers, aiming to gather support against immigration, claims to have surpassed one million signatures. However, an investigation by CheckNews reveals meaningful vulnerabilities in the petition’s verification process, raising questions about the authenticity of the support.
The referendum-immigration.com site, managed by Philippe de Villiers with data processing handled at offices of Lagardère News (Europe 1, JDD) located at 2 rue des Cévennes, in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, relies on a basic CAPTCHA test for sign-up. CheckNews found the system allows for the submission of fictitious names - including “Test Test,” “Philippe de Voilier,” and “Pierre Paul Jacques” – paired with fabricated or existing email addresses. Each submission was met with a “Thank you for signing the petition!” message, increasing the signatory count without any identity verification. No confirmation emails where received by CheckNews using personal email addresses.
The only apparent safeguard is a block on duplicate email addresses, triggering a “You have already signed!” message. This feature, though, allows users to determine if a specific email address has already been used to sign the petition.CheckNews discovered the email address associated with National assembly deputy Laurent Wauquiez had already been registered,perhaps by Wauquiez himself or another party.This raises the possibility of individuals signing up others without their knowledge or consent, including public figures like Marine Le Pen.
Furthermore,the petition interface includes optional checkboxes allowing signatories to share their email addresses with Philippe de Villiers and Lagardère Média News (owned by the Bolloré group). CheckNews confirmed signatures are accepted even without checking these boxes.
Fayard editions, contacted regarding potential promotional use of the petition data for an upcoming book by de Villiers, stated they are not in charge of the initiative but did not clarify whether the author intends to leverage the petition for book promotion.
Requests for comment from Philippe de Villiers’s assistant, the petition’s designated email address (petitionvilliers@gmail.com), Lagardère group press services, and JDD director of publication Geoffroy Lejeune regarding signatory verification and data usage went unanswered.