Trending PR Campaigns
The 17 October Protest Disinformation Study
Cyabra and Arcadia analysed social media during France’s 17 October protests, tracking viral false claims, recycled footage and the accounts spreading them. The news hook was a timely set of findings: protest-related violence posts reached 290 million views, while the study showed that real users—not just bots—often drove the spread.
Why it worked: It landed exclusive, time-stamped platform data during a live news moment and flipped the bot narrative by proving real users drove virality.
The lesson: Consider pitching fresh, platform-scraped data during a breaking event that overturns a common assumption with one unignorable stat.
Coverage over time
How this story spread across the media
| Publication | Headline | Date |
|---|---|---|
| adnkronos.com | 17 October: disinformation spreads alongside protests. Arcadia: ‘Cognitive warfare is happening in Italy too’ | Tuesday 20th October, 2026 |