Days before the Federal Elections of Germany, a report suggests that Russian bots have led to a dramatic wave of incorrect information on social media platforms, namely X, previously known as Twitter. Thanking a report through the German Foreign Ministry, received through politician, in the medium of efforts to influence the electorate is Doppelgänger, an operation backed by Kremlin.
According to the report, the Russian crusade is using fake news sites, sleeping accounts and content generated by AI to disseminate false narratives and erode acceptance as true in Western institutions. In the past, intelligence agencies throughout the EU and the United States have already followed the highly coordinated tactics of Doppelgänger. In general, the Crusade has tried to undermine Ukraine’s help in the current war in Russia. But now the concentrate has changed to the German elections that are scheduled to take their position on February 23.
The report says that German officials have become aware of more than a hundred pseudo-news Internet sites that have been quietly accumulating provocative and misleading content for months. “These platforms are structured the same way, filled with generic and AI-generated articles,” an official official, an official. , who was concerned about producing the report, told Politico on condition of anonymity.
“At a selected moment, a manufactured story is inserted and then extends temporarily through social networks and influencers. We will have to assume that these sites have been ready to be activated when the Bundestag elections approached, “added the manager.
German officials have said that these sleeping Internet sites imitate valid media and remain inactive until a politically delicate time. When those moments of the social networks of the Typhoon, they begin to publish false stories that end up spreading through their coordinated social networks.
In recent years, the European government has blamed Moscow for interfering in elections in several elections. In the past, the Czech and Belgian governments have damaged a core network of influence that they say pro-Kremlin propaganda in last year’s European Parliament polls say. He has also been accused of influencing Romania’s presidential election in December last year, which was canceled after Romanian security facilities warned that Russia had set the hybrid attacks “aggressive. “
The German election is also not free from the influence, since the people are concerned about the rise of the Russia-friendly, Elon Musk-backed far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). The far-right party, known for its radical ideologies is currently running second in the opinion polls.
Previously, Doppelgänger-linked websites have cloned outlets like Der Spiegel, altering domain names just slightly to deceive unsuspecting readers. The report stated that there has been a sharp increase in posts from ghost accounts, with activity spiking beyond 3,000 posts in a single day in late January. In comparison to this, for much of November and December, activity remained relatively low, rarely exceeding 50 posts a day.
The authorities stated that coordinated disinformation posts started to appear on social networking sites at a much larger frequency. The report said, “This overload technique — flooding social media with rapid waves of posts to manufacture the illusion of viral traction — is characteristic of Russian disinformation campaigns.”
The government also said that the content of the position was following a transparent scheme. These posts targeted Germany’s aid to Ukraine, saying that Berlin favors Kiev over its own citizens. Such an example documented in the report was a position that described a fabricated corruption scandal involving economy minister Robert Habeck and a “Ukrainian culture minister. “
According to the report, the fake story was planted on an online bedtime page in January and then amplified within a few hours through many X accounts. It also found that the wave of election interference appeared to be highly automated with several fake accounts at the same intervals.
In the Gentile of the report, German officials said they are intensifying against division efforts, sharing intelligence with foreign partners and contemplating the sanctions and public attribution of the networks of the campaign.
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