Germany: nearly 90% of voters fear manipulation – DW – 02/06/2025
www.dw.com
A poll of German voters found that 88% fear manipulation from foreign actors or governments as they prepare to cast ballots on February 23. Russia and the US ranked as the perceived top threats, followed by China.

Summary

A poll found that 88% of German voters fear foreign election interference, with Russia (45%), the US (42%), and China (26%) seen as top threats.

Concerns include deepfake disinformation and social media manipulation, with 56% believing Germany is unprepared. Elon Musk, a vocal far-right supporter, has drawn criticism for allegedly influencing German politics.

Voters also worry about the far-right AfD’s aggressive online campaigns. Many (79%) believe populists benefit most from social media.

Meanwhile, 71% support creating a new ministry to combat digital misinformation.

  • MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zipEnglish
    12·
    8 hours ago

    If there are any germans out there reading this, it’s not to late to enact strong policy. America failed to do so and I fear the repercussions of not taking the threat seriously have only just begun.

  • takeheart@lemmy.worldEnglish
    40·
    11 hours ago

    According to the study 37% of participants verify information before sharing it on social media.

    There you have it folks.

    Disinformation campaigns don’t need to be super convincing with the latest tech or elaborate fake outs, although it certainly helps. For the masses (ie election interference) it’s easy enough to to establish narratives, vibes by users simply sharing headlines to fake or manipulative reports. The people that bother to deep check and cross reference sources you typically couldn’t convince anyway. Sadly enough, most users never read beyond the head lines (75% this Facebook study estimates).

    Think of your own feed: how many head lines // posts do you just scroll by w/out ever opening them? Even if you don’t share actively it still can influence the your perception of the world today and shape your mood.

    Social media is eating away at the fundamentals of Democracy 🫠, change my mind!

    • hperrin@lemmy.caEnglish
      3·
      10 hours ago

      I think part of the problem is how awful an experience it is to read articles on most websites. I get that they need advertising revenue, but the giant ads plastered all over the articles make the experience of reading them simply awful.

  • Lucy :3@feddit.orgEnglish
    25·
    12 hours ago

    88% fear interference, yet 20% vote for the only “party” to benefit from interference???

      • guaraguaitoEnglish
        11·
        11 hours ago

        Yes, they fear China will turn them into “communists”.

        If only they realise how close their beloved AFD and the CCP is ideologically.

  • orclev@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    11 hours ago

    Are they considering Musk as US? If so I’ll kindly remind Germany he’s South African, he’s meddling in US politics as well, and we don’t want him either.

    It’s very worrying how many countries around the world have far right fascist parties either in charge or making major waves like MAGA and AfD. The Australian government has been headed down that path for a while, and the UK isn’t too far behind them. If I recall I think there was also a far right party in France that was up to something as well recently.