An investigative report broadcast by French public television channel France 2, as part of the program "Complément d’enquête", has sparked a new diplomatic crisis between Algeria and France, after addressing what the program described as alleged Algerian intelligence activities on French soil. The report prompted a strong official reaction from Algiers, including the summoning of France’s chargé d’affaires in Algeria.
The French investigation raises allegations of overlap between Algerian diplomatic work and intelligence activities in France. It refers to suspicions that individuals linked to the Algerian diplomatic mission were assigned non-diplomatic tasks, as well as to sensitive cases, including the alleged abduction of Algerian opposition figure Amir Boukhors, known as “Amir DZ,” who resides in France. The report also mentions suspicions surrounding the alleged recruitment of a French civil servant of Algerian origin working at the Ministry of Economy.
In response, Algeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the program outright, describing it as “a web of lies and fabrications” rather than a genuine journalistic investigation. The ministry denounced what it called a “serious attack” on the Algerian state, its institutions, and its symbols, holding France 2 responsible for the content and hinting at complicity or approval by French official authorities.
Algeria also accused the French embassy in Algiers, and the ambassador personally, of contributing to what it described as an “offensive media campaign,” calling this a violation of diplomatic norms. The government stated that it reserves the right to take “all necessary measures” in response.
However, this sharp Algerian reaction has revived a broader debate about media double standards. Observers note that the practices Algeria now condemns—linking media content to political agendas and targeting a foreign state through public media—are similar to those regularly employed by Algerian state and quasi-state media outlets against Morocco. These outlets have, for years, adopted a hostile and repetitive discourse aimed at Moroccan institutions and symbols in the context of the ongoing political dispute between the two countries.
Analysts argue that the current Algeria–France crisis cannot be separated from a wider pattern of escalating diplomatic tensions, which in recent months have shifted from political disagreements to an open media confrontation. In this environment, investigative reports and television programs have increasingly become tools of pressure, amid stalled dialogue and rising political and media polarization on both sides.
