Be careful, danger. A recruitment advertising campaign in France led by the Church of Scientology is in the crosshairs of Miviludes (Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and the Fight against Sectarian Abuses). Indeed, since the end of December, the government body has received numerous reports of an “aggressive” campaign on the networks from the movement supported by Tom Cruise. Facebook, Instagram and especially X, Elon Musk’s social network, are affected. Some press sites also see advertising appear in their digital banners.
Many users have also echoed this directly on the platform, denouncing this unwanted advertising in their tweet thread.
In this context, Miviludes is officially launching an alert this Thursday afternoon, Le Parisien learned. “Membership in Scientology can be done in particular through free personality tests, free “introductory” conferences, as well as courses and study of “dianetics”, the methodology of learning and of personal development created by Ron Hubbard or by any other “cultural” or “humanitarian” events, she explains in her message.
“Scientology practices can present risks of mental destabilization, exorbitant financial demands, and rupture with the original environment, particularly family,” Miviludes further warns.
“Very difficult to supervise this type of publication”
As for the associations of victims of sects, we are not very surprised by this advertising offensive on the part of the movement. “It’s one of the groups that advertises the most,” comments Pascale Duval, director and spokesperson for Unadfi (National Union of Associations for the Defense of Families and Individuals Victims of Sects).
“What weapons do we have to protect ourselves from this propaganda? It is very difficult to supervise this type of publication, we know that,” this fighter is alarmed against the harmful influence of sectarian movements, powerless in the face of these digital methods.
This summer, Miviludes had already alerted French opinion of the installation of the Church of Scientology in a very visible building in Saint-Denis, at the time of the Paris Olympics. “Scientology targets impoverished populations. They will look for the most vulnerable,” continues the activist. “By appropriating buildings like in Saint Denis, they still give the impression of being very rich and very powerful, but the observations made in the United States and Canada by struggle associations show that this no longer seems to be the case. Their number of members would even tend to decrease,” assures this specialist in sect methods.
When contacted, the Church of Scientology confirmed this “Welcome to Scientology” campaign, which aims to be global. “People are asking questions, and we want to give them the answers about what our religion is, and who we are,” the movement’s representation in France told us.
For the record, Scientology has been condemned on several occasions indirectly via its members because in fact as a Church, Scientology is an association under the 1901 law in France. In 1997, several members, including the former president of the Church of Lyon, were convicted of fraud and manslaughter after the suicide of a faithful woman. In a trial that took place in 2013, two of the main structures of the movement, the Celebrity Center and its bookstore, were convicted of organized gang fraud, as well as two Scientologists for illegal practice of pharmacy.
