Germans consider fake news a big problem

Targeted disinformation

February 29, 2024 10:35 p.m. Robert Klatt

Disinformation campaigns affect many people on the Internet. A large part of Germans fear that this will endanger cohesion and democracy. In addition to foreign actors, they also named the German federal government as a source of intentional disinformation.

Gütersloh (Germany). Fake news, conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns can affect many people in a short time, especially via the Internet. A survey carried out by Bertelsmann Foundation with 5,000 German participants, now shows that a large part of the population considers the intentional dissemination of false information to be a major or very important social problem (84%) and believes that disinformation campaigns endanger cohesion and democracy in Germany (81%).

Respondents say they have seen misinformation on social networks such as Facebook and X (50%), in comments on news sites (37%) and in articles on blogs and news sites (33%) . According to them, the sources of false information are foreign governments (53%), German politicians (50%) and the federal government (34%).

Political disinformation campaigns

According to the survey, many Germans (55%) believe that disinformation comes from the right and left of the political spectrum in roughly equal proportions. A smaller proportion believe that it is mainly right-wing activists (25%) or left-wing activists (10%) who are responsible for targeted disinformation.

According to a study by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e. V. (FES) believes conspiracy theories more often than average and thinks that the left-wing political spectrum is responsible for disinformation campaigns.

Weakening democracy through disinformation?

According to the study’s authors, a large part of the population knows that targeted disinformation campaigns pose dangers. People with a high level of trust in the media believe that fake news mainly serves to weaken democracy and cohesion among German citizens. On the other hand, people who don’t trust the media are more likely to believe that misinformation is spread to distract from political mistakes and scandals. In view of the survey, the Cathleen Berger study calls for it to be easier for users to verify the veracity of information on the Internet.

“We need better guidelines. Social media should be required to include fact checks and trust ratings.