In this campaign for the 2026 municipal elections, social networks have taken a place that they did not have in 2020, even before the official launch of certain candidates. This has been a strong trend for several months observed…
In this campaign for the 2026 municipal elections, social networks have taken a place that they did not have in 2020, even before the official launch of certain candidates. This has been a strong trend for several months observed in Dax, perhaps a little more than elsewhere in the Landes: the worst spats around the issues of this campaign take place on Facebook, and through several pages and profiles, rather than in neighborhood meetings.
Thus, the page Dax, My city and I (formerly called Dax, my city dies) administered by Gilles Bourdillas, openly campaigns for Julien Dubois, and has 22,400 members acquired in ten years of existence, more than the population of Dax. Its administrator recently confided to Sud-Ouest, during an interview, “acting out of pure revenge against the Dacquoise left”. It sometimes relays false information from other pages, also broadcasts the official content of the outgoing mayor’s campaign, produces satirical video montages, etc.
On the other side of the political field, another Facebook page, called Pour Dax et le pays dacquois, which has 800 subscribers, has drawn up an unflattering assessment of Julien Dubois’ mandate since 2020, publishing photos whose honesty leaves something to be desired. For example, dumping of trash on a private plot, intended to illustrate the lack of maintenance of public spaces.
Artificial intelligence
“Sud Ouest” questioned the two candidates in the municipal elections of March 15 about this new situation, during the televised debate organized with TVPI and broadcast this Friday, March 6 in the evening. Julien Dubois prefers to denounce the content of the official page of his socialist opponent: “There is no need to cite these pages. I recently learned that Ms. Loumé-Seixo posts videos with cuts on her Facebook page, caricaturing my positions. »
The mayor of Dax continues: “I will never do it. When there is a debate, I post it in full, and people make up their minds on the pages you are talking about. Me, anything that is anonymous, fake profiles, I don’t read it. » Running mates such as Gregory Rendé, Amine Bénalia-Brouch, or even the chief of staff Christophe Cluzel, proactive on social networks, are visibly taking care of it for him, if we are to believe the numerous “likes” and comments.
“Me, anything that is anonymous, fake profiles, I don’t read it”
A third page that became famous in a few months, Le Canard du Grand Dax, is administered by Vincent Piget, himself a candidate on a list in Saugnacq-et-Cambran. It uses artificial intelligence to disseminate often political content under the guise of “informing differently”. Two complaints were filed by municipal candidates in villages in the Agglomeration for content deemed defamatory. We cannot, for the moment, assume what action will be taken by the Dax public prosecutor’s office.
War of likes
The mayor of Dax seems to have been informed: “I noticed that only socialist elected officials are filing complaints. So we are often attached to freedom of expression, but not when it concerns others. The animal thing (Editor’s note: the “Lea Pare” page, which has 519 subscribers, created in response to the Canard du Grand Dax), I was told that they are really insulting, and I would have had the opportunity to file a complaint. I’ve never done it, I don’t get into that game myself. »
Viviane Loumé-Seixo denounced “violent methods and manipulation of information. »
Émilie Drouinaud / SO
And to emphasize that social networks sometimes make it possible to “raise the hares”: “You are a journalist and I know that you are attached, even if sometimes we have debates, to always having balanced and sourced comments. And sometimes, on social networks, we raise hares, as they say. » This is probably what Le Canard du Grand Dax thought of doing, by denouncing the presence of seven to eight candidates from France Insoumise on a list in Narrosse. He has since recognized that it was an erroneous interpretation of comments made on the airwaves of Ici Gascogne.
“We are no longer criticizing a project, we are really insulting”
For several days, Viviane Loumé-Seixo has denounced violent methods and manipulation of information: “All the competing teams, wherever they are, whatever their side, actually use social networks a lot with videos, slideshows and there are some very nice things circulating on social networks. And then there is also this dark side that develops. There is censorship on the one hand, critical comments are deleted, and then there are slip-ups, as I was able to observe quite recently. We are no longer criticizing a project, we are really insulting it. So that, for me, is absolutely unacceptable. »