317
submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Germany has uncovered a major “pro-Russian disinformation campaign” using thousands of fake accounts on X to try and stir anger at Berlin’s support for Ukraine, a media report said on Friday (26 January).

The revelations come amid growing concern about the impact increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaigns could have on elections.

Experts commissioned by the German foreign ministry used specialised software to monitor posts on the online platform X, formerly known as Twitter, between 20 December and 20 January, news weekly Der Spiegel wrote.

They reportedly stumbled across more than 50,000 fake user accounts that together pumped out more than a million German-language tweets.

A common theme was the accusation that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government was neglecting the country’s own population in favour of helping Ukraine in its war against Russia, according to Spiegel, which said it has seen excerpts of the analysis.

The accounts also often linked to fake news stories on websites designed to resemble those of genuine media outlets, Spiegel said, leading analysts to connect it to the Russia-linked “Doppelganger” campaign already known to authorities.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] jopepa@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

I talked to a cousin and he says, “yeah but I don’t follow those types of accounts…”

this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
317 points (97.0% liked)

World News

39019 readers
2315 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS