Fakes after Folkmarsen: How false news spreads

The authorities are still in the middle of their investigations - and false news is already sprouting up online. As now in Volkmarsen, fake news is booming shortly after an act. But why?

Berlin (dpa) - On Monday, just two hours are enough to spread the crude false news about the attack in Volkmarsen on the net. Around 2.45 p.m .: A 29-year-old drives his car on the Rosenmontagszug.

Around 5 p.m .: It is known that the driver is a German - the background of the incident is unclear. In between: Two hours to poison the social networks with their own theories about perpetrators, motivation or responsibilities.

While the police and rescue workers are trying to cope with the situation, it is said that the act in Volkmarsen was an Islamist terrorist attack. The unspecified sources for it: "foreign newspapers". There are also photos circulating that supposedly show the perpetrator's spectacular arrest. The police later clarified that the recording was "definitely not the perpetrator".

There was wildest speculation even in the allegedly racially motivated attack in Hanau. There, a mentally ill German had shot nine people with foreign roots. However, completely different variants can be found on the Internet: the act did not commit a single offender, but foreign clans. Sometimes a gang war was responsible for the deadly shots, sometimes an intelligence agency. All wrong.

"It can be observed that fake news flourishes particularly after crisis events," says communication scientist Tilman Klawier from the University of Hohenheim. He deals with so-called alternative media, which pretend to uncover the supposed truth in contrast to established news formats. According to the expert, the uncertain situation is being exploited.

"The need for information is widespread, even among normal media users," says Hamburg journalism professor Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw. Established media rely on secured sources such as the police to avoid speculation.

In the early phase of an event, however, the authorities are often still in the middle of an investigation or are not allowed to disclose certain information, for example for data protection reasons. The spreaders of false allegations run into such gaps. "The information vacuum is strategically filled," says communication scientist Kleinen-von Königslöw.

Review July 2019: An eight-year-old boy and his mother are pushed in front of an ICE at Frankfurt Central Station. A photo and the first name of the child killed appear on the net - but: the photo has been haunted by the net for years, the name is false.

But: it is enough that the invention has a real effect. "Fake news is not about truth, but about plausibility," says literary professor Nicola Gess from the University of Basel. A false message works best if it involves the reader emotionally. "It offers him a means of identification," explains Gess. The language of fakes is often ambiguous.

False messages have a long shelf life, even if the police release more information. "In general, the fake news is more interesting than the correction," says Kleinen-von Königslöw. The lies often catch on when they confirm their own worldview. "Then it doesn't matter what official information is released," said Klawier.

But why do people invent things? On the one hand, it can simply be the bashful mammon: more clicks, more advertising revenue. But the political dimension seems to be more important: create a targeted mood and stir up enemy images. Kleinen-von Königslöw thinks: If there were many possibilities in the room, the truth would be irrelevant.

Nicola Gess on the website of the University of Basel

Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw on the website of the University of Hamburg

Tilman Klawier on the website of the University of Hohenheim