24h ago

Germany: nearly 90% of voters fear manipulation

www.dw.com Germany: nearly 90% of voters fear manipulation – DW – 02/06/2025

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.

26 comments

I'm sure all of those will vote contrary to those doing the manipulation, right? -Padme

- 1984 intensifies

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!
- change my mind!
  It's not social media, it's media.
  Social media are somewhat faster, but if you watch TV or read news here in Germany, the discussions there and reality on the have almost zero connection. We're discussing completely absurd proposals to deport refugees, while most people are much more afraid of their landlords or can't get a doctor's appointment.
  The media completely fails at questioning power. They're just repeating what politicians say or demand, knowing that 90% of that is straight up against the constitution.
  
  When fake news as a concept appeared a bit over a decade ago it was all about the traditional media and the lies and narratives they formed in their articles. That same media tried to spin it as about the satire sites like newstrump and most recently their entire spin has been about social media being the cause. I think social media has caught more because its clear to see that some users are spreading a lot of misinformation and you can see others falling into the trap but really what legitimises it all is what the media does and does not platform.
- 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.
- not gonna change your mind, you’re right.

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.

88% fear interference, yet 20% vote for the only "party" to benefit from interference???
- some of that 20% fear "woke" interference
  
  Yes, they fear China will turn them into “communists”.
  If only they realise how close their beloved AFD and the CCP is ideologically.

Is this fucker trying to take over every county in the world by proxy or what?
- Yes.

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.
- In all of these countries the moderate parties failed the people.
  Globally, there was a slow redistribution away from the middle and working class since the 70s. Moderate parties were complacent or compliant, they got a few vanity projects in place, but overall just administered the status quo.
  Now we're at a point where the theft of wealth reached a level that seriously threatens the livelihoods of ordinary people. I can't speak for other countries, but Germany is simultaneously grinding to a halt and falling apart. It's scary.
  The left has no answers, unfortunately. They're busy with identity politics and academic debates and nothing. Trans issues for example are in themselves important, but if you're a worker who doesn't know how to pay rent, a left party that puts trans issues at the top of their priorities isn't exactly super appealing.
  The moderates failed at preventing the downfall. The lefties are busy addressing niche issues and ignoring issues that don't fit their view.
  The alternative is a far right that doesn't even hide behind nice words, just hate hate hate. And even though their program would fuck most of their voters, hate prevails.

Why are his hands bigger than his head?
- Have you never seen something get closer to a camera?
  
  It just seems disproportionate.
- Why are his hands bigger than his head?
  It's funny. Probably because he's like a muppet show figure IRL too, with big hands, but in a bad way.
  
  It amused me too.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_(graphical)
  
  It just seems massively disproportionate. It was also supposed to be a bit funny.

26 comments