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This article explores the term “fake news” applied to RT France (previously known as Russia Today), a transnational news channel funded by the Russian state. Accused of broadcasting fake news since its launch in 2017, the channel was banned in the EU in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, it has deployed a “turning the tables” strategy, presenting itself as a victim of censorship and discrimination, creating an affective bond with its publics, who feel marginalized and excluded from the dominant public space. Within the theoretical framework of subaltern counterpublics and through semi-structured interviews with Twitter users, the article shows that RT’s publics perceive the term fake news as a “label” unfairly applied to the channel, which reinforces their trust in RT instead of warning them about the potential risks of consuming the channel’s content.