Our work on the 2021 German elections.
The German Elections Project is the hub for identifying and analyzing information manipulation targeting Germany’s elections, providing open source digital tools and assessments of Germany’s information ecosystem, and building awareness of foreign efforts to interfere in the elections, as well as domestic challenges to democratic processes.
Revealing Foreign and Domestic Narratives in the 2021 Elections
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Interest Alignment: The Appeal of RT Deutsch with Supporters of the Alternative for Deutschland
The alignment of interests between the German right-wing party, Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), and Russia’s flagship German-language media outlet, RT Deutsch, is both well-documented and unsurprising, given the Kremlin’s penchant for supporting [...]
The German Elections Dashboard in September 2021: Foreign Election Coverage and RT Deutsch’s YouTube Ban
September was an important month for German politics with the federal elections taking place on September 26. Our pre-election analysis demonstrated the reach of and bias in Russian coverage ahead of the elections. Both before and after the election [...]
RT Deutsch Finds a Home with Anti-Vaccination Skeptics in Germany
YouTube’s decision last week to remove RT’s German-language channels for violating the platform’s coronavirus misinformation policy sparked an outcry from Moscow, with the foreign ministry claiming that the move was “fully in line with the logic of [...]
Kristine Berzina on German Elections and Olaf Scholz
Kristine Berzina, senior fellow and head of the geopolitics team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, joins Julie Mason to discuss the results of the German elections and what to expect from Chancellor Angela Merkel's [...]
Hamilton Toplines: September 20–26, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian officials and state media focused heavily on the UN General Assembly (UNGA), making it the most frequently used phrase on the Moscow-linked Twitter dashboard. Much of the coverage attempted to highlight Russia’s diplomatic [...]
Russia’s Media Reach and Coverage of Candidates in Advance of the German Federal Election
Foreign actors have demonstrated an interest in Germany’s federal election this year. Of particular concern is the fact that Russian state-backed media have developed a wide reach within Germany and are actively engaging in election discourse. Since [...]
Corinna Blutguth Shares Insights Into Russia’s Information Operations Ahead of Germany’s Elections on SVT1
GMF Researcher Corinna Blutguth joined Sweden's SVT1 to discuss the reach and scope of Russian state-backed media outlet RT Deutsch in Germany. Corinna explained that ASD/GMF data showed that RT Deutsch has been outperforming other traditional Germa [...]
Information Manipulation in the German Election Campaign: Lessons Learned, Latest Findings, and the Path Ahead
This year’s German federal election poses a challenge not only to the involved candidates and their corresponding parties, but to the entire German political landscape. Several articles and reports have highlighted the susceptibility of the election [...]
The Elections, Covid, and Afghanistan: August on the German Elections Dashboard
On September 26, around 60 million voters in Germany will be able to cast their ballots in the 2021 parliamentary elections. After 16 years in power, incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel is not running for office, and a change in government leadership [...]
Russia Sows Distrust on Social Media Ahead of German Election
RT Deutsch, the Kremlin-backed media outlet, has become a major player on social media just weeks before the polls open. A video on YouTube alleging anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in Germany was viewed more than a million times. A Facebook post p [...]
Germany is Vulnerable before the Elections but Can Still Escape Interference Attempts
Sooner or later harmful trends observed in the United States often take hold in Germany. They might not be at the scale of what Americans confront, but the telltale signs are evident even in Germany’s strong democracy. That especially applies to ele [...]
Information Manipulation in Germany’s Federal Election
Germany’s ongoing election campaign is an alluring target for foreign and domestic actors seeking to influence and undermine the democratic process. The Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD) and the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the U [...]