this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2025
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243
Germany: 90% of voters fear manipulation by foreign actors ahead of election on February 23 - Russia, U.S., China perceived top threats (www.dw.com)
submitted 1 day ago by Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org to c/europe@feddit.org
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Here is the original poll in German.

German voters are overwhelmingly concerned about foreign election interference according to a new poll published by the Brussels-based digital industry association Bitkom.

Overall, the poll found that 88% of the more than 1,000 eligible voters surveyed expressed fear that outside forces, whether governments, groups or individuals, would actively attempt to sway the vote through social media campaigns.

Ranked highest among those suspected of nefarious activity was Russia (45%), followed by the US (42%) and China (26%). There was also concern voiced over East European actors (8%).

Those voters polled also provided insight into how they form their political opinions, with 82% citing conversations with friends and family, 76% television and 69% the internet.

Some 80% of respondents felt the next government should address the problem of potential internet and social media misinformation by prioritizing digital policy.

...

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[–] nyankas@lemmy.ml 30 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

It's nice that they fear it, but it would be better if they learned to recognize it and act accordingly.

Musk was given his own opinion piece in a big Sunday newspaper recently (Welt am Sonntag, published by Axel Springer), praising the right-wing extremist party AfD and telling people to vote for them. Then, he was part of a (hilariously bad) live stream with AfD's leader Alice Weidel. And then he appeared on their party congress. And just today, Bild, which is Germany's most popular trash-newspaper and made by, drum-roll please, Axel Springer, published an article (archive link, German), implying that the current wave of protests against fascism and right-wing-extremists is just state-controlled propaganda. And this covered only [the most obvious part of] the US-side of things.

But don't worry, Russia has been caught recently as well: It came to light, that a series of vandalized cars, where the exhausts were stuffed with building foam and stickers of the Green's leader were put on the cars, were most likely ordered by Russia and not done by some green extremists.

And how is that knowledge reflected in the polls? Right-wing-extremists up, Greens and moderate parties down. Greeeeeat!

I'm so sick of reading stuff about people being afraid of being manipulated by someone. Yes! People are trying to manipulate you, you blithering dingus, maybe you should try not being so easily manipulable instead of sitting there acting like you can't do anything about it! Stop getting your news exclusively from social media and other sources which have been manipulative in the past. And use a bit of common sense when you're being told that the evil Greens want to take away your pet, turn off your heating and ruin each and every farmer in Germany. Sure, there might be more subtle manipulation going on, but not falling for the really obvious stuff would at least be a great start.

TL;DR: Angry rant about people being afraid of manipulation while just letting it happen.

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 11 points 22 hours ago

Everyone who has even been in an abusive relationship will tell you it's one thing to recognize being manipulated. It's a whole other thing to act properly on it.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago

Well the good news is that the United States interference and the Russian interference it's basically the same so you know maybe a little bit easier?

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 15 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Given that the AfD vote is greater than 10%, who do the AfD voters fear is manipulating the election?

[–] msgraves@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 8 hours ago

die grΓΌΓΌΓΌnen

[–] uis@lemm.ee 4 points 22 hours ago

Germany

[–] DavidGarcia@feddit.nl 2 points 1 day ago

the US definitely at the top of the list, along with NGOs like the WEF, after that all the usual conspiracies

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 24 points 1 day ago

90% fear manipulation, the majority of them being heavily manipulated.

Thus many of those 80% wanting future governments to address internet desinformation will loudly cheer when they actually try to ban things like those evil leftist fact checks.

Seriously... 55%+ right now (that's not far from a β…” majority in seats) are planning to vote for people openly telling lies and fairy tales, yet they question if people are manipulated but not at all their own delusions.

[–] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

Nice to see the US get its due recognition among peers in the headline.

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Israel never getting the credit they deserve.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 4 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Best friends with Axel Springer, good friends with Elon Musk...

Heck, the Bild recently attacked the protests against rising fascism as "antisemitic" because the zionist provocateur and FDP politician Karoline Preisler felt unwelcome at one protest.

In the name of "protecting Jewish life" the Bundestag passed two resolutions attacking culture, science and education, demanding people who voice criticism of Israel to be purged from any government funded positions. Of course this was hailed by the Fascists of the AfD. This also violates core principals of the German constitution.

Critics, in particular Jewish critics of these resolutions were completely ignored and it remains unknown to the public, who, how and when these resolutions were negotiated. The complete lack of transparency and the support from supposedly progressive parties like Greens and SPD to the now far right CDU and FDP to the AfD fascists does raise the question, how this almagation of support came together. The AfD seemed not to be directly involved in the negotiations of the resolutions, but the methods and targets are perfect for them.

Universities are the least antisemitic spaces in German society, yet they have bern targeted extensively by people claiming to "fight antisemitism"

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 2 points 20 hours ago

I've almost never seen polls that high before

[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world -1 points 19 hours ago

Welcome to the fucking club

[–] exploitedamerican@lemm.ee -1 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Unless germany has transitioned to electronic voting since their last election I wouldn't worry. Last i heard the german court struck down attempts to transition away from paper ballots using the idea that electronic voting is unconstitutional due to the fact that it is impossible to distinguish legitimate results from fraudulent ones. It would be great if we could adopt that type of election transparency in the usa.

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 3 points 31 minutes ago

It was the CCC who argued that electronic votes can't be secured to the necessary degree (which involves not being able to prove that you voted a certain way), the constitutional court listened attentively, then more or less said "that's all way too complicated, an ordinary citizen with basic education and no specialised knowledge must be able to ascertain for themselves that the elections are kosher, therefore, electronic voting is out".

[–] federalreverse@feddit.org 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

You do realize this article is about targeted political campaigns rather than straight-up vote manipulation, right?

[–] exploitedamerican@lemm.ee 0 points 1 hour ago

Regardless i dont see how that makes my comment any less valid. Those with massive wealth use their money to support these campaigns and present an image of strong support within the population although this isnt truly the case however they dont care because they want to manipulate the narrative to manufacture consent. This wont work in Germany with their election laws. Also Germany has much better education standards than the usa so a good percentage of the population will outright reject blatant fascism.