Inside Story Exposes Fragile Foundation of Greek Government’s Bot Allegations Over Tempi Protests

The theory on Tempi - which gained traction in local media and was even repeated in Parliament by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis - now appears to rest on a single, highly dubious source.

A new investigation by Inside Story, a respected independent Greek media

The theory - which gained traction in local media and was even repeated in Parliament by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis - now appears to rest on a single, highly dubious source.

The investigation, published Friday, traces the origin of the bot narrative to a February 26 article by EU Reporter, a Brussels-based website with a checkered reputation. The EU Reporter original article - published just two days before the two-year anniversary of the crash - alleged that Russian-linked bots exploited public anger to amplify extreme views and shape the conversation on Greek social media. It claimed that thousands of inauthentic accounts became active as early as December 2024 and reached a peak of activity just before the February 28 protests. According to the piece, these accounts manipulated TikTok and other platforms’ algorithms to boost divisive and radical content, pushing certain narratives into wider visibility.

At first glance, the article offered what seemed like a plausible digital explanation for the spike in online intensity surrounding the protests. But the Inside Story investigation challenges not only the accuracy of the claims but the very credibility of the article and its source. The report details how the original piece appeared under the byline «Louis Auge» which was later changed to «Paul Halloran» - a name with no known history or expertise related to Greece. When Inside Story reached out to Halloran through LinkedIn, he initially refused to confirm his identity and responded with insults and threats. Eventually, EU Reporter’s publisher, Colin Stevens, confirmed that Halloran was indeed the author, attributing the name change to a technical error.

Further undermining the story’s credibility was its lack of supporting evidence. Although the article spoke of «thousands» of bots, the only documentation Stevens later provided was a list of 30 TikTok videos and five posts from X (formerly Twitter). Many of these posts were benign or even comedic in nature, including content from well-known Greek satirical pages such as Luben, protest footage, or music clips. They lacked any clear connection to foreign interference or disinformation campaigns. The only consistent theme among them was their reference to the Tempi tragedy.

The methodology described by Halloran for identifying bots was also questioned. He cited indicators such as repetitive usernames, absence of profile pictures, unusually high posting rates, and activity during off-hours—criteria that digital experts say are far too weak to support firm conclusions, especially without access to internal platform data. Moreover, the investigation revealed no explanation as to which specific accounts were bots or how they were linked to any coordinated political effort.

Despite these gaps, the story was taken up at the highest levels of Greek politics. In a recent parliamentary debate, Prime Minister Mitsotakis described an «explosion» of bot activity in the run-up to the protest anniversary. Without naming countries, he implied foreign involvement, saying that accounts previously posting in other languages had suddenly begun producing Greek content about the Tempi disaster. «We will investigate and find out who orchestrated this effort» he promised.

Yet not all officials shared the Prime Minister’s certainty. Michalis Bletsas, head of Greece’s National Cybersecurity Authority, offered a more cautious view in comments to Inside Story. While acknowledging the general threat of Russian propaganda, Bletsas said his agency was not investigating the Tempi-related claims, citing staff shortages and lack of tools. He added that in his view, social media trolls and the platforms themselves played a bigger role in shaping online discourse than any alleged bots.

The broader credibility of EU Reporter has also come under renewed scrutiny. The website has previously been accused by international outlets such as The New York Times and Politico of running sponsored articles that favor governments like China and Kazakhstan, or companies like Huawei, without transparency. While EU Reporter’s publisher denies these accusations, past promotional videos from the outlet explicitly advertise «positive coverage» in exchange for political influence within the EU.

Following Inside Story’s revelations, opposition parties have seized on the findings, accusing the government of weaponizing an unsubstantiated foreign interference narrative to delegitimize the widespread public outrage over its handling of the Tempi disaster.

The center-left PASOK party condemned what it described as a coordinated attempt by the Prime Minister and ruling New Democracy to discredit the protests by invoking «fictitious scenarios» involving Russian bots. The left-wing SYRIZA - Progressive Alliance went further, calling Mitsotakis a «prime minister of bots» and accusing him of manipulating public discourse to shield his administration from accountability. Both parties have framed the incident as part of a broader pattern of institutional decline, in which misinformation is used to obscure genuine grassroots dissent.