French far-right leader Bardella said to have recently deleted old antisemitic Facebook posts

French far-right leader Jordan Bardella threatens new legal action against a media outlet after a report accused him of deleting alleged antisemitic messages from an old Facebook account.

The 31-year-old top ally of French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has been fighting for his political future after allegations emerged that he made antisemitic remarks as a teenager.

In September, French investigative website Mediapart reported that Bardella made remarks in 2013 disparaging Jewish people. It based the report on comments in private chats that it said it had authenticated.

Bardella has denied the allegations, saying that he does not “have a Facebook account” and had not used the social network “for a very long time.”

But French weekly Le Canard enchaine reports today that Bardella deleted data from one of his two Facebook accounts as soon as the alleged 2013 writings were made public.

The publication says it has “extracts of private conversations” showing that “all the data” from an account Bardella used during his early years as an activist in the National Front — as Le Pen’s party was then known — was deleted between September 28 and October 2.

Bardella calls the Le Canard enchaine report “completely false.”

“A further defamation suit will be filed in response,” he says on X.