French news outlets are facing severe criticism after hailing a small-time Parisian politician as a conqueror of cyberspace before he was unmasked as a prankster.

Arash Derambarsh, 28, earned nationwide plaudits when he announced his election as president of Facebook, the social networking website, on January 1.

The announcement earned him massive publicity and iconic status in a nation desperate for a prominent place on the US-dominated web. Interviewed by newspapers and broadcasters, Mr Derambarsh claimed that he would be able to petition tens of millions of Facebook members during his four-month term of office and would promote goodwill, tolerance, literacy and the French language during his tenure.

“I have a power that is unique,” he said. “No one on the internet can reach as many people as me.”

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It was reported that he had struck up official partnerships with President Sarkozy’s office and with Unesco. Le Figaro, the French daily, described him as a “quasi world president”.

Pride turned to embarrassment when it emerged that Mr Derambarsh’s claims had been exaggerated wildly — and that there was no such thing as president of Facebook.

He had not been elected by 100 million Facebook users, as he had appeared to suggest, but by 9,156 people who had downloaded an application called ePresident.

The application was produced by ClutterMe, a Canadian start-up, that said it had registered a total of 41,440 candidates and 142,849 votes.

The winner had no power, no formal connection with Facebook and no way of contacting the networking site’s members.

Le Nouvel Observateur, the weekly magazine, attacked Mr Derambarsh as an impostor who had hoaxed the media establishment for self-publicity.

A publisher by profession, Mr Derambarsh has worked as an adviser for centre-right French politicians and is seeking to become a local councillor in a Parisian suburb. The row has inflamed French internet forums, with dozens of users expressing a mixture of outrage and amusement.

Emmanuel Parody said on one blog: “A nutcase has got himself national media coverage by managing to persuade editorial teams that his pseudo-election as President of Face was credible. With extraordinary cheek, this guy has come up with a whole load of nonsense and false figures . . . Well done, my son.”

However, the main target of the bloggers’ wrath has been not so much Mr Derambarsh as the reporters who believed his story.

Gilles Klein, an internet journalist, said: “This shows that the internet bubble has not burst in the head of some of my colleagues. You only need to make them dream a little for them to reproduce the fantasies that you are dictating.”

Mr Derambarsh told The Times that the episode had been a joke that newspapers had taken seriously.

For me it was a laugh. I kept warning them not to get carried away,” he said. “But they didn’t check their facts and now they are blaming me and using me as a scapegoat. The whole thing is ridiculous.”

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