Skip to content

WorldBreaking

France accuses Iran of cyberattack on supermarket refrigerators

By

Coverage spectrum

Covered by 13 outlets. No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered it yet.

18 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

French notice on a shop display case saying refrigerators are temporarily out of service
Image via Sky NewsHow images are chosenReport this image

France accuses Iran of cyberattacks that overheated refrigeration units at supermarkets in October. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards organized the attacks and that France will seek sanctions at the European level. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into the IRGC cyber unit Shahid Kaveh. Prosecutors said investigators determined the attacks served a foreign power, Iran, while Bloomberg reports that prosecutors only suspect Iran. The attacks hit hundreds of stores, raising fridge temperatures and in some cases forcing stores to throw away food. The Washington Post and Bloomberg put the number of affected sites at about 700. Iran did not immediately respond to the allegations.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. Editors read every story. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Iran’s Revolutionary Guards organized the cyberattacks on French supermarket refrigeration.

    Reported byLeft1Center3See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Guardian
    Center
    Financial Times, United Press International, Deutsche Welle

  2. Cyberattacks hit hundreds of French supermarkets, raising fridge and freezer temperatures and in some cases forcing stores to throw away food.

    Reported byLeft3Center1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Washington Post, The Guardian, Bloomberg
    Center
    BBC News

  3. The Washington Post and Bloomberg put the number of affected sites at about 700.

    One side only: the leftReported byLeft2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    The Washington Post, Bloomberg

  4. The Paris prosecutor said it has opened an investigation into the IRGC cyber unit Shahid Kaveh over the attacks.

    One outletFrance 24· Center

  5. Paris prosecutors said investigators determined the attacks were carried out to serve a foreign power, Iran.

    One outletCBS News· Left

  6. Iran did not immediately respond to the allegations.

    One outletThe New York Times· Left

How each side tells it

Compare views

Every side reports that France blames Iran for overheating supermarket refrigeration at hundreds of stores. Left headlines put Iran’s role more directly, while center headlines attribute the accusation to France.

  • the left

    7 outlets

    Left headlines state Iran’s role directly or through a single attribution, such as Iran hacked or France blames Iran, and the Guardian frames the attack with Iran’s past hacks.

    Iran hacked hundreds of French supermarket refrigerators, France says
    The Washington PostLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    6 outlets

    Center headlines mostly attribute the accusation to France, as in France accuses Iran, and France 24 leads with the prosecutor’s probe into the Shahid Kaveh unit.

    France accuses Iran of supermarket fridge hacking
    BBC NewsCenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    No coverage yet

    No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left2

    slap sanctionsvows

  • Center2

    dramatic consequencesshadowy

  • Right

    Has not covered this story.

In the outlets’ own words

  • Loaded verb

    slap sanctionsMore neutral: impose sanctions

    The informal phrasing adds force to a routine step of imposing sanctions.

    …fridge cyberattack which spoiled produce at around 700 retailers, and vowed to slap sanctions on Tehran in response.

    Used byCNN (Left)

  • Sensational language

    dramatic consequencesMore neutral: caused large losses and fires

    Dramatic adds emotional weight that the reported damage to produce and the fires already convey.

    …for this attack." The comparatively simple cyberattack nevertheless had dramatic consequences, spoiling large quantities of produce and in some cases setting temperatures…

    Used byDeutsche Welle (Center)

  • Loaded verb

    vowsMore neutral: says it will seek

    Vows presents a pledge with added resolve where says it will would report the same statement neutrally.

    French foreign minister vows European sanctions against Tehran over ‘unprecedented’ hacks last month Europe live –…

    Used byThe Guardian (Left)

  • Sensational language

    shadowyMore neutral: a cyber unit of the IRGC

    The adjective adds drama about a unit that the description itself says little is known about.

    The Paris prosecutor said she had opened an investigation into Shahid Kaveh, a shadowy cyber unit of the IRGC, the Islamic republic's ideological army, over the…

    Used byFrance 24 (Center)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

7 outlets

Leads with

  • Iran’s role in the attacks
  • Scale of food losses and disruption
  • Geopolitical context and past Iranian hacks
See the 7 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

6 outlets

Leads with

  • France’s accusation against Iran
  • Role of the Revolutionary Guards
  • Prosecutor’s investigation

Leaves out

  • Earlier Iran-linked hacks and freezer attacks at Israeli and US sites, which the Guardian reports

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 6 headlines from the centerHide the headlines

From the right

0 outlets

No right-leaning outlet that Mantle follows has covered this story yet. That absence is part of the picture.

The stories you read build My Mix, a private picture of which sides cover the stories you choose, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    First to report

    CNN, Nov 9, 11:22 AM EST

  • Center

    20 min later

    Its first report, Nov 9, 11:42 AM EST

  • Right

    No report yet

    From the outlets Mantle follows

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. CNNLeftNov 9, 11:22 AM EST
  2. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftNov 9, 11:33 AM EST
  3. BloombergLeftNov 9, 11:34 AM EST
  4. Deutsche WelleCenterNov 9, 11:42 AM EST
  5. France 24CenterNov 9, 11:44 AM EST
  6. BBC NewsCenterNov 9, 11:51 AM EST
  7. The GuardianLeftNov 9, 12:02 PM EST
  8. Sky NewsCenterNov 9, 12:04 PM EST
  9. CBS NewsLeftNov 9, 12:15 PM EST
  10. United Press InternationalCenterNov 9, 12:41 PM EST
  11. The New York TimesLeftNov 9, 1:16 PM EST
  12. Financial TimesCenterNov 9, 1:31 PM EST
  13. The Washington PostLeftNov 9, 3:11 PM EST

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

Read next

Help someone else find the truth beneath the surface

Most people see one side of a story. Share this one, so they can see how every side is telling it and decide for themselves.

Email it
Embed

Show this story’s coverage card on your own site, blog or class page. It has the headline, who is covering it and a link back here, and it tracks nobody. See the card

Seen a mistake? Tell us what is wrong with this page