A large majority of people in Germany are worried that “fake news” could influence the federal elections in September.
Many also worry about the threat to democracy.
Düsseldorf - Before the general election, a large majority of Germans are afraid of attempts at manipulation through “fake news”.
In a Forsa survey published on behalf of the NRW State Media Authority, 82 percent of those questioned agreed with the statement: "I am concerned that political disinformation campaigns will manipulate the election results."
82 percent also shared the opinion that political disinformation endangers our democracy.
Forsa had from 3.-7.
June 1005 German-speaking Internet users over the age of 14 nationwide surveyed online.
According to the Federal Returning Officer, disinformation is verifiably false or misleading information that is distributed in order to influence or deceive the public.
There is no central point for recognizing and correcting disinformation in Germany.
More than a third of the respondents (36 percent) stated in the survey that they had personally noticed attempts at political disinformation on the Internet. However, only a few users became active afterwards: According to the survey, only about 16 percent of this group criticized the message in an answer or comment that they considered manipulative, 15 percent reported the message or the author to the Internet portal.
The NRW Medienanstalt expects that due to the corona pandemic, a large part of the election campaign for the federal election will be relocated to the Internet and that digital information will therefore be of particular importance. The state media authority is therefore monitoring the election campaign very closely and is also planning a second survey on election advertising and possible disinformation campaigns in the final phase before the election. dpa
