Germany reveals a surge of Russian disinformation ahead of elections

The German think tank CeMAS has found that Russia’s disinformation campaign is aimed at supporting the far-right Alternative for Germany party, undermining the mainstream German parties, and sowing anxiety about the economy ahead of the country’s February 23 elections. Reuters reported on this finding.

CeMAS has tracked hundreds of German-language posts on the social media platform X (Twitter) over the past month. Analysts describe these posts as typical examples of Russia’s disinformation campaign against the West, previously discovered and condemned by German, American, and French authorities.

According to CeMAS, in recent weeks, German posts on X have blamed the Green Party for Germany’s economic woes, criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his support of Ukraine, portrayed conservatives as untrustworthy, and spoken in favor of Alternative for Germany.

The posts that CeMAS monitored contained links to fake German news sites or to articles or images on real sites that supported their narrative.

Reinforced by a network of fake accounts, these materials received more than 2.8 million views, according to CeMAS.

The report comes a month before the elections, which are expected to be won by Germany’s conservative opposition, the Christian Democrats.

A poll released on Saturday by the INSA polling company showed the Christian Democrats getting 29% and the AfD 21%, double the number in the 2021 elections. Scholz’s Social Democrats came in third with 16%, and the Greens were fourth with 13%.

In November, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service announced that it had set up a special group to counter any attempts by foreign countries to influence the federal elections.