“The Belgian ‘Freedom Convoy” is an imported product

Read the rest of the investigation (in Dutch)

Will the self-proclaimed ‘Freedom Convoy’ soon paralyze Belgium? We asked that question for our first CrossOver investigation. Apache searched for the convoy in mid-February. Supported by data from CrossOver’s dashboard. These are the conclusions in a nutshell.

The CrossOver data analysis shows that this so-called Freedom Convoy was mainly making in vogue among the French-speaking Belgium. We zoomed in on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Search, Google News and Reddit. A first analysis shows that French-language content about the protest ride to Brussels was mainly fed by French (social) media.

A strongly recommended channel on YouTube was the Russian-controlled RTFrance, followed by France 24, the news channel RMC and Le Parisien. Among the recommended videos, content related to antivax positions prevailed.

On Twitter, too, the hashtag Parijs/Paris was among the trending topics the weekend before the manifestation. For the “Freedom Convoy,” or more appropriately the “Convoi de la Liberté,” we saw that French-speaking users of the social media we examined in Belgium are decidedly French-oriented. Apache was also able to establish this trend in the field. These conclusion were also confirmed by the Brussels police. “Some 130 vehicles were counted through the day, mainly campers, camionettes and cars coming from France and the Netherlands,” the police reported.