Digital interference: a threat to democracies

An exceptional lecture by Marc-Antoine Brillant, VIGINUM's head of department, organized by the Intercultural Communication and Training (CFI) program and SIO-IP, as part of the business lecture series.
Portrait de Marc-Antoine Brillant et logo Viginum
Marc-Antoine Brillant © D.R.‎
Foreign digital interference

Foreign digital interference is a set of actions carried out by a state or foreign actor, aimed at disseminating untruthful statements about a nation in order to influence its public opinion. Social networks are playing an increasingly important role in the information environment, enabling a statement to spread more rapidly and reach a wider target. Today, the growing importance of social networks in the information environment accelerates and amplifies the dissemination of comments, providing a framework conducive to the proliferation of disinformation actions designed to harm an individual or a nation. Organizations such as VIGINUM have been created to combat such interference.

VIGINUM

Directed by Marc-Antoine Brillant, VIGINUM is a service specializing in vigilance and protection against foreign digital interference. VIGINUM was created on July 13, 2021 at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, as part of the Defense and Security Council of January 12, 2021. This service is linked to the General Secretariat for National Defense and Security (SGDSN). VIGINUM follows in the footsteps of the East StratCom Task Force of the European Union, as well as the Global Engagement Center in the United States, two bodies set up to combat foreign interference. VIGINUM's mission is to investigate foreign digital interference that manipulates information with the aim of altering public opinion within a state. The service constantly monitors online platforms to spot and identify such manipulations. The aim is to protect France from a change in public opinion based on false information, for example during crucial events such as election campaigns or more recently on the occasion of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.

At the conference on April 10, 2025 at Inalco, Marc-Antoine Brillant will discuss the role played by VIGINUM in a world where information and geopolitics are at the heart of concerns. He will also shed light on the missions carried out on a daily basis by VIGINUM to combat these digital interferences.

Speaker biography

A graduate of the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, the École de Guerre and ESCP, Marc-Antoine Brillant is, as of October 15, 2023, head of the Vigilance and Protection against Foreign Digital Interference (VIGINUM) department.

He has held various operational positions within the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. Among others, he commanded combat units in the Near and Middle East, then more recently was engaged in the Sahel as head of operations for a battle group. In 2018, he joined the Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d'information (ANSSI) as anticipation advisor to the directorate general in charge of operational and strategic affairs, before being promoted to deputy assistant director Strategy. After leading the Task Force Honfleur, he was appointed as prefigurator of the VIGINUM national service in 2021.

On October 6, 2023, Marc-Antoine Brillant was appointed head of the Vigilance and Protection against Foreign Digital Interference Service to the General Secretary for Defense and National Security. He was previously deputy head of service since July 13, 2021.

The conference will be introduced by Delphine Allès, vice-president of Inalco, and moderated by Mylène Hardy, lecturer, Inalco, CFI.