Is PSG the instigator of a campaign discrediting Kylian Mbappé?

The announcement of Mediapart shook the world of football.

According to the newspaper, between 2018 and 2020, the Paris-Saint Germain (PSG) allegedly commissioned a communications agency to create fake Twitter accounts in order to conduct a campaign against its opponents or certain players, such as Kylian Mbappé.

The agency Digital Big Brother (DDB), via its subsidiary URéputation, supposedly created the account Paname Squad, federating a community of PSG supporters.

Mediapart, which was able to obtain a report from the agency DBB, says that among the targets favoured by these fake accounts were media that were deemed hostile to PSG, such as Médiapart and L’Equipe, a fan slapped by Neymar, the girl who accused the Brazilian star of rape, but also personalities of the club such as the player Adrien Rabiot and the former sporting director Antero Henrique.

While it is understandable why PSG would have been tempted to influence public opinion on these matters, the reasons for targeting Kylian Mbappé, the Paris team’s own player, remain more unclear.

For its part, PSG has formally denied the allegations of Médiapart, claiming not to have contracted with any agency to harm anyone.