France’s Mr. Privacy turns cybersnooper

This communicative is portion of the bid Leaked: The Altrnativ satellite of cybersurveillance. Read the rest.

PARIS — Eric Leandri was erstwhile the darling of France’s tech sector, lauded arsenic a defender of integer privateness and a paragon of Europe’s quality to vie against Silicon Valley. 

Qwant — the hunt motor Leandri co-founded successful 2011 — received much than €50 cardinal successful French and European nationalist backing and loans. A-list politicians similar French President Emmanuel Macron and European Union anti-trust main Margrethe Vestager endorsed the institution implicit its better-known American rival Google. 

Today, things couldn’t look much different. Last summer, Qwant came truthful adjacent to bankruptcy the company was forced to seek an €8 cardinal indebtedness from the Chinese telecom elephantine Huawei. Leandri, who left his occupation arsenic head of the institution successful disgrace successful 2020, has switched sides. His caller venture, Altrnativ, specializes not successful privateness — but successful the rapidly increasing tract of cybersurveillance. 

A trove of interior Altrnativ documents seen by POLITICO uncover however Leandri’s institution investigated the critics, rivals and employees of immoderate of France's biggest brands. They besides incorporate transportation decks branded with Altrnativ’s logo offering the company's services alongside cyberweapons and drones to authoritarian African governments in evident practice with arms dealers based successful Poland and the Middle East. 

This is not conscionable the communicative of 1 man's autumn and effort to regain his presumption arsenic a modular bearer for France, inc. Leandri’s travel symbolizes Europe’s struggles to make exertion champions that tin support up successful a scenery dominated by Silicon Valley, Israel and Asia. 

It besides opens a model into the murky satellite of cyberweaponry and cybersurveillance, a rapidly increasing manufacture successful which companies similar Altrnativ stitchery idiosyncratic accusation online with unprecedented easiness and merchantability that accusation to governments and companies.   

“Our accusation is being utilized against us,” said Estelle Massé, an adept successful information extortion astatine the integer rights advocacy radical Access Now. “There's a increasing fig of actors we don't cognize thing astir who instrumentality precise factual decisions for america and our future: whether oregon not we tin get a job, whether oregon not we tin go the people of retaliation for having said thing affirmative oregon antagonistic towards a brand.” 

People's idiosyncratic information, she said, is being “weaponized.”  

The astir 4,000 documents see merchandise offers, invoices and minutes from interior meetings. Combined with dozens of interviews conducted by POLITICO, they amusement however a startup, tally by an entrepreneur with adjacent ties to his country’s concern and governmental establishment, was capable to unafraid contracts with immoderate of the astir important companies successful France. 

In respective cases, Altrnativ’s investigations whitethorn person breached Europe’s stringent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) online privateness laws, according to definitions provided to POLITICO by privateness lawyers and the French information extortion authority. Asked if Altrnativ broke the GDPR, Leandri did not reply.

In the little than 3 years since the institution was founded, Altrnativ has established itself arsenic a purveyor of open-source quality oregon OSINT, a signifier of integer probe which usually involves compiling and analyzing publically disposable information. For example, successful what Leandri says were proceedings runs for enactment with different situation absorption and backstage information companies, Altrnativ monitored societal media activities of critics of the luxury radical LVMH and the cooking lipid elephantine Lesieur. 

Altrnativ was contracted by the defence steadfast Dassault Aviation to analyse an worker and 2 occupation applicants of North African origins to look for imaginable “collusion with overseas intelligence,” according to dossiers it produced for the firm. 

Leandri and his institution were besides hired by submarine shaper Naval Group to hunt for sources of a leak from a gathering astir a €56 cardinal woody with the Australian authorities that would aboriginal unravel, sparking an planetary diplomatic crisis. As portion of that job, Altrnativ investigated an Australian journalist, an Australian legislator and the CEO of a rival steadfast successful Australia on with dozens of the group’s employees oregon subcontractors. 

In the nationalist sector, Altrnativ took portion successful a French interior ministry program to build tools susceptible of sifting done immense amounts of information for quality the authorities could enactment connected — a task aimed astatine replicating the capabilities of Palantir, the bundle surveillance institution founded by the libertarian entrepreneur Peter Thiel with funding from the American CIA. 

Meeting with POLITICO successful a downtown Paris café, Leandri claimed his institution was moving connected “defense secrets.” He besides acknowledged helium had carried retired the open-source quality investigations listed above. When it came to Altrnativ's African ambitions, however, helium insisted helium was not liable for each connection that mentioned his institution and that helium had lone participated successful enactment involving open-source intelligence. 

He besides maintained his caller enactment of concern was accordant with enactment successful the past, particularly erstwhile it comes to promoting European exertion implicit rivals from the United States, Israel and elsewhere. 

"I proceed to support privateness precise strongly,” Leandri said. "That does not halt maine from being consenting to vie with Palantir and to make bundle that tin negociate immense amounts of data, due to the fact that I judge that sovereignty of a country, a state similar France, is important.”  

Rise and fall 

For years, Qwant was a poster kid for European tech sovereignty — hailed arsenic a objection of the Continent’s quality to nutrient home-grown champions alternatively than beryllium connected overseas brands similar Microsoft, Huawei and Google. 

As a French institution dedicated to online privacy, the hunt motor was endorsed by the country’s apical politicians, including France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire who declared his admiration during a 2018 sojourn to the company’s caller office successful Paris’s chic 16th arrondissement. 

“Qwant, to me, is an reply to each the skeptics, each those who deliberation France, Europe, are not susceptible of processing integer companies astatine the aforesaid level of what’s done successful the U.S. oregon China,” Le Maire said. 

Standing astatine the minister’s side, Leandri allowed himself a smile. Le Maire’s sojourn was the culmination of a years-long effort to woo the Parisian elite, and present they each were, milling astir Qwant’s office, taking selfies successful beforehand of the company’s Tesla car. 

A serial entrepreneur who began his vocation selling computers connected the land of Corsica, Leandri had climbed to the apical of France’s concern satellite by securing almighty allies successful the governmental and firm establishment. 

The wealth down Qwant came from Jean-Manuel Rozan, a wealthy, well-connected investor, and his almighty network. It was Rozan who approached Macron, erstwhile the aboriginal president was inactive an advisor to his predecessor François Hollande. Rozan is simply a long-time protagonist of the French politician, adjacent penning a publication astir him successful 2019. 

According to Rozan, Macron, archetypal arsenic the Elysée’s lawman caput wide and past arsenic system minister, advocated for Qwant arsenic it sought a €25 cardinal indebtedness from the European Investment Bank successful 2016. (Axel Springer, POLITICO's genitor company, was an aboriginal capitalist successful Qwant, buying a 20 percent involvement successful 2014.) 

The communicative fueling Qwant’s emergence acceptable perfectly with Macron’s tendency to crook France into a “start-up nation,” and Leandri and Rozan made definite to support the rising governmental prima close. Leandri was 1 of Macron’s increasing assemblage of followers erstwhile the young wide kicked disconnected his statesmanlike bid.  

After Macron won the presidency successful May 2017, Qwant hired 1 of his party's failed parliamentary candidates who had worked connected his campaign. Leandri besides cultivated relationships with respective MPs from Macron’s party, arsenic good arsenic immoderate of his apical officials similar Junior Minister for Social Economy Marlène Schiappa. Schiappa did not reply to a petition for comment. Macron's erstwhile authorities spokesperson Benjamin Griveaux confirmed to POLITICO that helium met with imaginable concern partners successful Altrnativ's bureau connected respective occasions aft helium near the government. 

The Elysée did not reply to a petition for comment. 

For a while, it seemed Leandri had obscurity to spell but up. A squad of lobbyists polished his image, branded him arsenic Europe’s privateness champion and helped unfastened doors to everyone who mattered successful Paris and Brussels, including Vestager, past the EU’s apical tech-related official. 

At the tallness of his vocation successful 2019, Leandri oozed truthful overmuch occurrence helium was asked to prima successful an advertisement for a French luxury car. Filmed astatine the wheel of a DS SUV, helium described his “life’s battle” arsenic “defending the close to backstage beingness … defending the close to European values.” 

Then things began to unravel. In 2019, journalists astatine the French paper Le Figaro, including the writer of this article, revealed the institution was making large losses: €4.7 cardinal successful 2016 and €11.2 cardinal successful 2018. Company documents aboriginal viewed by a writer besides showed however the institution relied connected technologies from Microsoft’s Bing hunt engine, successful opposition to Qwant’s claims of being a homegrown European integer powerhouse. 

"Leandri is susceptible of selling a bluish carpet arsenic a reddish one," said an entrepreneur who has known him for years, speaking connected information of anonymity. “The lone occupation is that the carpet remains blue.” 

The biggest stroke for Leandri came from the French quality outlet Mediapart, which revealed the entrepreneur had been the people of a European apprehension warrant betwixt 2011 and 2015 aft a Belgian tribunal convicted him of "receiving stolen goods.” In 2016, Leandri, who had appealed the decision, paid a good to settee the matter.  

Other media reports besides described brewing tensions wrong Qwant and elaborate Leandri’s Silicon-Valley-style spending. Employees complained astir his wont of renting a Tesla and the French state-owned concern steadfast Caisse des Dépôts — a Qwant shareholder — questioned the six-figure salaries paid to the company's executives adjacent arsenic it failed to marque a profit. 

Publicly, the French authorities continued to backmost Qwant, to the constituent of requiring its agencies, including the Ministry of Armed Forces, to usage the company's hunt engine. But Leandri himself was shown the doorway and near his occupation arsenic caput of the company in January 2020. He inactive holds roles successful companies that ain shares successful Qwant, according to nationalist firm registers. 

In July this year, Leandri was besides convicted of illegally accessing the backstage physics correspondence of his erstwhile concern spouse Rozan — his entreaty is pending. In January, a French tribunal besides recovered that Leandri had reneged connected a €40,000 indebtedness and ordered him to repay the money.  

After POLITICO contacted Leandri, idiosyncratic made dozens of attempts to hack into the online accounts of a newsman moving connected this story.  

Qwant has present racked up much than €80 cardinal successful cumulative losses and has much than €47 cardinal successful debt, according to a nationalist authoritative progressive successful the substance and documents seen by POLITICO. It made a nonaccomplishment of much than €9 cardinal successful 2021. Qwant did not respond to elaborate questions astir its operations and equilibrium expanse but said its full revenues successful 2021 came to little than €12 million. 

It was not agelong aft his departure from Qwant that Leandri launched Altrnativ, pitching his caller task to erstwhile colleagues and tech professionals arsenic France's reply to Palantir, the American large information analytics company. 

Targets

Leandri's marque aims "to bring tools that truly support [someone], beryllium it astir backstage beingness oregon concern confidentiality" | Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images

In its nationalist presentations, Altrnativ is successful enactment with the Leandri marque — promising privateness successful an progressively perilous integer world. "The thought is simply to instrumentality backmost power of surfing connected the internet, (...) to bring tools that truly support [someone], beryllium it astir backstage beingness oregon concern confidentiality," is however Leandri explained it successful a 2020 interview. 

But portion Altrnativ does supply services intended to support backstage data, it besides offers to get idiosyncratic accusation for its clients.  

The documents seen by POLITICO see a promotional video that showcases “Targets” — “an investigative level that tin collect, correlate, process and analyse information connected a monolithic scale” including by “searching the acheronian web.”  

As an example, the video shows idiosyncratic looking for accusation astir erstwhile French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. The French politician's Twitter code is typed into a hunt engine, which returns his backstage Instagram and Twitter accounts arsenic good arsenic a fake telephone number, code and different backstage information. The bundle besides purports to supply the telephone numbers of immoderate of Philippe's friends and accusation astir however helium is connected to them. 

Two radical progressive successful the backstage information manufacture confirmed Altrnativ had pitched them entree to a instrumentality that would supply them idiosyncratic information astir precocious illustration figures and mean citizens. In a transportation platform prepared for the governments of Comoros, Altrnativ illustrates the instrumentality with photos purporting to amusement the WhatsApp illustration pics and online statuses of ministers successful Philippe's government. 

Asked astir the tool, Leandri said the last mentation lone utilized publically disposable data. “It is lone an open-source quality search,” helium said. 

The institution has offered its services, including usage of the platform, to immoderate of France's biggest brands. 

In 1 job, for a situation absorption institution it sought to spouse with, Altrnativ monitored critics of Bernard Arnault, the laminitis and CEO of the luxury radical LVMH. 

In what Leandri told POLITICO was a proceedings run, the resulting study claimed respective activists, including the French left-wing Member of the European Parliament Manon Aubry were placed “under surveillance.” In different proceedings run, Altrnativ joined a task that monitored national officials, a section person and imaginable yellowish overgarment protestors who were considered a risk to the French cooking lipid and mayonnaise shaper Lesieur.

Leandri said helium did not admit the connection utilized successful the resulting reports, which bore the logos of spouse companies. “I person ne'er utilized this benignant of language,” helium said. “We bash not enactment anyone nether integer surveillance, that’s not us.” 

He referred to these reports as trials chiefly handled by different companies. The documents amusement helium worked with AB Global Consulting, a situation absorption firm, and Maegis Group, a backstage information company. AB Global Consulting said its enactment with Altrnativ was a trial and that the 2 companies didn't collaborate further. Maegis besides told POLITICO the occupation was a one-time trial and that the narration did not continue. 

Altrnativ besides worked straight for LVMH. According to signed invoices seen by POLITICO, the luxury radical paid Altrnativ adjacent to €30,000. The institution monitored media reports for the group's apical manner marque Louis Vuitton, which was acrophobic that quality of a arguable impermanent astatine a institution enactment successful Madrid would mar the motorboat of a caller store. 

LVMH declined to comment. Lesieur did not reply to a petition for comment. 

Read much astir however Altrnativ monitored critics of LVMH and Lesieur. 

Altrnativ besides worked for the defence shaper Naval Group, successful an yet inconclusive effort to find retired “who is loyal and who isn’t” among its French and Australian employees, aft a leaked telephone telephone threatened a lucrative but politically delicate submarine deal.  

As portion of the effort, Naval Group shared the names and telephone numbers, and successful 1 lawsuit the narration status, of 30 of its employees with Altrnativ. The investigation’s targets besides included the Australian writer Andrew Tillett, past Australian Senator Rex Patrick and Jim McDowell, CEO of the Australian defence steadfast Nova Systems.  

The woody aboriginal ended in diplomatic furor, aft Australia elected to articulation the AUKUS confederation with the U.S. and U.K. and bargain U.S. nuclear-powered submarines instead. 

“Following a leak of confidential and interior accusation from Naval Group successful the Australian media, we engaged [Altrnativ] to usage unfastened sources to recognize the discourse of this damaging leak,” a spokeswoman for Naval Group said successful a connection to POLITICO. The institution declined to remark further.  

Read astir Altrnativ’s hunt for the root of the Australian leak.  

The institution besides took connected jobs for the defence shaper Dassault Aviation, assembling dossiers connected an worker and 2 occupation seekers of North African origins, searching their societal media accounts and compiling backstage accusation successful a hunt for grounds they had ties to overseas quality (and successful 1 case, suggesting Dassault notation a occupation seeker to France’s information services). 

Leandri denied his institution had been progressive successful investigations that targeted radical due to the fact that of their taste origins. “No racism nether my watch, that’s not us,” helium said.  

Dassault did not reply to a petition for comment. 

Read astir Altrnativ’s investigations for Dassault Aviation. 

The trove of Altrnativ documents incorporate much than conscionable OSINT work. They see transportation decks with the company's logo offering astatine slightest six African governments malware and hardware susceptible of remotely taking implicit a target’s smartphone, a backpack-sized instrumentality capable to pat and way phones up to 10 kilometers distant and a integer instrumentality susceptible of monitoring the net connected a ample scale. Some documents besides carnivore the logo of Metalexport-S (MEX), a Poland-headquartered subject hardware supplier. These pitches were prepared successful evident collaboration with Thierry Carbou, a French-Canadian arms trader of Cameroonian root who serves arsenic manager connected the advisory committee of MEX, according to his Linked In profile. MEX and Carbou did not reply to a petition for comment.  

Leandri said Altrnativ played nary portion successful these efforts, that his company's products and branding were included arsenic portion of a larger package. “These are not our offers,” helium said, adding that unspecified partners added Altrnativ products to their offers but that helium had nary power implicit it. He declined to specify what partners helium was talking about. Some interior Altrnativ documents pitching African governments not lone carnivore his company’s logo but database Leandri arsenic the company's ineligible typical for the deals.  

Read astir the efforts to merchantability cyberweapons to African dictatorships. 

Leandri’s quality to enactment with truthful galore large brands and agencies contempt his caller autumn from grace raises the question of however helium did it. While immoderate of the pitches are highly nonrecreational and connection cutting borderline cyberweaponry to governments, immoderate of the open-source surveillance reports for companies are amateurish.  

Part of the reply lies successful the high-level contacts helium gathered during his clip astatine the bosom of the French tech industry. Part of it tin beryllium explained by his hiring of erstwhile French officials, including 1 who claims to person been an quality officer. 

Leandri besides suggested helium had been taking idiosyncratic risks for Europe arsenic portion of a caller patriotic ngo — a communicative that whitethorn entreaty to French and EU politicians hopeless for European champions to rival Chinese, Israeli and American tech titans. 

“I acceptable retired to get exertion to vie against some the Israelis and the Americans," helium said. “That tin outgo maine dearly. In our software, determination is zero American technology, zero Israeli technology. Zero!" 

“My combat contiguous is the aforesaid arsenic it ever was: The lone mode to support Europeans is with tools developed by Europeans,” helium added. “Sure, I whitethorn not beryllium cleanable son-in-law material. More similar a accustomed suspect. But speech from that, I don't spot what we bash that's incorrect different than bring sovereignty backmost home.” 

Jules Darmanin and Marion Solletty contributed reporting.