Facts against Fakes: 3rd Weekly Update by GADMO ahead of the 2025 German Federal Election
In the run-up to the German federal election taking place on 23 February 2025, GADMO, EDMO’s Hub covering Germany and Austria, provides weekly insights into key election-related developments in Germany’s digital information space. Please note that the below is a semi-automated translation of the German version of the weekly election newsletter.
Facts are not only under attack recently, their value per se is being openly questioned. Yet especially in times like these it is crucial to recognize their democratic significance. Before elections, it is particularly important to know when influence is being exerted from abroad, as CORRECTIV documented last week. In addition to these political interventions, major social media platforms appear to be joining Meta in backtracking on countering questionable online content. Last weekend, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa was among the critical voices who addressed this problematic orientation as well as the role of “Big Tech” companies in a speech at the Vatican.
What we have uncovered recently
Leading German politicians continue to be the focus of false information that once again links them to the Los Angeles wildfires. After Olaf Scholz was allegedly affected last week, FDP federal chairman Christian Lindner is now said to have lost a villa in the region ravaged by fires. However, virtually all of this information was made up, alleged media reports do not exist and the villa pictured is not even in the fire area, as this factcheck shows (in German).
An alleged SPD election poster, which is supposed to promote an increase in bottle deposits as a measure to combat pensioner poverty, is also just a crude fake (see this factcheck in German). It was originally a satirical post. However, by omitting a reference, users believed it to be genuine. The same fate also befell a fake interview (in German) with Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Alliance 90/The Greens), originally created by a well-known satire site, in which he recommends cuddling or wearing a sweater as tips against the winter cold.
What is being shared a lot right now
While the previous examples were completely unsubstantiated false information, misleading claims with a factual basis are still the most popular. These false claims are usually a little more difficult to debunk. For example, false quotes are repeatedly attributed to politicians (see this article in German). Some of these are completely made up (read more in German), others are real statements but taken out of context. Because a crucial part of a sentence is omitted in one of Habeck’s statements (in German) for example, it sounds as if he has no desire to stand up for the well-being of Germany.
The selective processing of information is a special type of misleading communication, also known as “framing”. In a YouTube video with more than 127,000 views, for example, a survey on the visibility of the parties’ advertising campaigns is discussed, but the moderator presents the figures as the result of a classic voter survey (read more in German). This falsely suggests that the AfD has overtaken the CDU in the forecasts. The competition between the two parties is also the subject of a graphic that has been shared widely, which compares alleged election promises and political plans. But this material is also incorrect and claims that the CDU has planned measures that it has actualy never presented (read more in German).
The claim that Friedrich Merz could already decide on a “de facto entry ban” in the Bundestag with the AfD and FDP also had a wide reach. In reality, however, such a coalition would only get 362 of the 367 votes needed for a majority, as this article explains (in German).
How the election is being attacked
The federal elections are of great geopolitical importance, and other countries are also expected to be watching the outcome very closely in February. In the run-up to the election, CORRECTIV identified a campaign to influence the German public. The creation of around 100 fake news portals corresponds to a well-known Russian strategy that was already observed in the USA before the presidential elections last year.
These websites, which at first glance look like real media websites, are used to spread false information and propaganda content, which is then spread further on social media and thus gains reach. Individual politicians from Germany have been portrayed in a bad light by such false information for months (read more in German).
Online event (in German): What helps against disinformation in the election campaign?
How does disinformation influence the election campaign? Are fact-checking professionals observing particular trends? How do young people get information? And how does the rest of Europe view the election to the German Bundestag? These questions are the focus of our virtual panel discussion.
February 6, 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
At a glance: selected factchecks
Photo of Baerbock and Scholz taken out of context | Ballot papers with cut corners are valid | Poster with “demonstration money” is satire by “Die Partei” |
A photo of Olaf Scholz and Annalena Baerbock sparks discussions. It is claimed that the Foreign Minister left a meeting in protest. But the picture shows something different.
(in German) |
Contrary to what is often claimed online, postal ballot papers are valid even if the upper right corner is punched or cut off.
(in German) |
The origin of the “demo money” myth goes back years, but the topic is taken up again and again – for example, on a satirical poster at the protest against the AfD federal party conference.
(in German) |