False claim France's La Jument lighthouse pays staff millions persists online
The July 6, 2025 post, which has garnered more than 24,000 likes, includes multiple dramatic images showing a wave crashing around the lighthouse.
"The French Maritime Administration has struggled for years to staff the post, despite the astronomical salary," the post's caption reads. "A report from Le Monde detailed the extreme isolation, constant threat from the sea, and the psychological toll of living alone under high-risk conditions."
"Sometimes, peace of mind is worth more than a paycheck," the post adds, calling the La Jument lighthouse "one of the most dangerous in the world."
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Screenshot of a post on Instagram taken July 18, 2025
Similar posts repeating the same claim racked up thousands of likes across platforms such as TikTok, X, Facebook and YouTube. The rumor also spawned articles that purported to detail the position and salary, published on advertisement-laden websites that resemble pages AFP has previously fact-checked for pushing clickbait misinformation to generate advertising revenue.
The lighthouse, built from 1904 to 1911, rose to fame in 1989 after French photographer Jean Guichard took a dramatic picture of keeper Théodore Malgorn standing in the lighthouse's doorway as a wave enveloped the structure. The photo won second prize in the "Nature" category at the 1991 World Press Photo contest -- and is used to illustrate the false Instagram post.
But claims of a $1.2 million salary for those guarding the watchtower are false.
The official history of the lighthouse on the Interregional Directorate of the North Atlantic Sea Western Channel (DIRM NAMO) website says La Jument has been automated since 1991 (archived here).
"There is no keeper at the La Jument lighthouse nor in any French lighthouse," DIRM NAMO told AFP in a July 21 email. "French lighthouses have all been automated for many years. Agents from the 'lighthouses and beacons' division regularly visit them to maintain and modernize them."
This statement echoes an official denial the authority posted online when a similar claim circulated on TikTok in 2024 (archived here).
A search for open positions within DIRM NAMO yielded no results for prospective employment at the lighthouse (archived here and here).
The Office of Tourism for Ouessant Island -- the westernmost point in metropolitan France where the lighthouse is located -- also said the claim was "fake."
"There has been no one who has worked in the La Jument lighthouse since 1991 and the salary at that time was far from a million," the office told AFP in a July 18 email.
Despite this information, a keyword search AFP conducted for "La Jument lighthouse 1.2 million salary," using Microsoft's Bing browser on July 18, provided an AI-generated summary affirming the eye-popping pay to work at the site, offering social media posts and a false article as the evidence.
The same search performed July 22 on Google resulted in an AI summary that called the salary claim exaggerated, but repeated misinformation that the position is vacant, referencing false articles and social media posts. However, when the search was conducted the same day in French, Google's AI summary correctly stated that the lighthouse keeper job at La Jument does not exist.
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Screenshots comparing AI summary responses to keyword searches on Google in English (L) and French on July 22, 2025
AFP has debunked other misinformation about Europe here.
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