The last days of the electoral campaign were stormy Win. And they were even played out on the city’s billboards.
First, false posters representing Anne Sattonnet, now mayor but who was still a candidate, were put up on Friday March 20, 2026 in the evening. She filed complaint the next day.
But she is not the only one, Laurence Thiébaut, former elected official and close to Régis Lebigre, the outgoing mayor, did it too. While the list of the latter seized the administrative court of a appeal.
Fake posters
Back to the facts: two days before the second round of municipal electionsvisuals were posted in certain places in the city.
We see Anne Sattonnet in the center and alongside her Éric Ciotti, Etienne Blanc, Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen as well as Jordan Bardella. All in black and white, subtitled in large letters: “The xenophobic wave will not pass through Vence” signé “The Baous maquis”.
You don’t need to be an expert computer scientist to see that this is an image generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The candidate is warned but the clock is ticking and within a few minutes, she will no longer be able to communicate on her social networks. The law provides that the electoral campaign “ends the day before the vote at zero hour”.
Friday March 20, around 11:50 p.m., she published a photograph showing a woman pasting the falsified documents.
But very quickly, she erases it, explaining that she “wanted to take care to verify what it was about, which had just been sent to him, even if it meant not being able to republish anything afterwards”.
On the other hand, on Saturday, she goes to the gendarmerie to file a complaint for “unauthorized use of [son] image », “reached [son] image » et “Defamatory remarks”. First complaint.
Fake photo
But this photo, broadcast and subsequently deleted, is also a deep-fake (a montage produced by AI) and we recognize Laurence Thiébaut, project manager in the previous mandate, close to Régis Lebigre.
The latter therefore decided to file a complaint, also on Saturday March 21, 2026 in the morning.
In the document registered with the gendarmerie, which she sent to Nice-Morningshe declares: “My image a été dégradée following this publication, as well as that of the mayor [qui était donc encore Régis Lebigre] because I support him. I would like to file a complaint against Ms. Sattonnet Anne for manipulation and ‘‘fake-news”. HAS”
An appeal filed by Régis Lebigre’s running mates
Unrelated to the images generated by AI, the running mates of Régis Lebigre, the former mayor who did not respond to our requests, transmitted to Nice-Morning un communiqué.
They write: “We noted a certain number irregularities during the election campaign and the day of the second round of voting. With several running mates, we filed an appeal before the administrative court to request the cancellation of the electoral operations. It is now up to the election judge to make a decision in light of the documents we have submitted to him. HAS”
The latter did not say more about the documents to which reference is made. Six members of this list now sit in opposition on the municipal council. They lost the election to Anne Sattonnet by almost 109 votes.
On the other hand, the other lists did not file an appeal.
