Exclusive: Russian-linked bots sow fear, distrust ahead of German vote
BERLIN, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Russian-linked online disinformation networks are spreading faked spy agency warnings of terrorist attacks in Germany ahead of this month's election in an apparent attempt to sow fear and depress voter turnout, cybersecurity experts say.
The networks were also spreading unfounded rumours aimed at discrediting Friedrich Merz, the conservative leader whom polls place ahead of the second-placed, Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany in polls, said the researchers.
The experts, working with German human rights organisations Civil Society Forum and Robert Bosch Foundation, are veterans of efforts to combat Russian influencing operations who did not wish to be identified for security reasons.
Reuters was able to review the full database of posts and confirm the thrust of the campaign of posts, mainly originating on X, containing videos which were then shared on a wider range of social media platforms. The posts had been interacted with some 2.5 million times so far, the researchers found.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the posts on its platform.
Their volume tripled this week, when a group named Storm 1516 joined a campaign which had previously been dominated by the Doppelganger and Matryoshka disinformation networks.
In a text message, John Mark Dougan, a Russian-resident American who has been linked in the media to the Storm 1516 network, declined to comment on the specific allegations.
Doppelganger and Matryoshka could not be reached, and messages to the Russian embassy in Berlin were not immediately returned.
The Russian government has consistently denied running disinformation networks.
One post reviewed by Reuters contained a fake video purporting to be from broadcaster France 24 relaying a warning from French security services to avoid public places in Germany because of the risk of terrorist attacks.
Other posts contained similar warnings purporting to come from the CIA and Mossad. No such warnings have been issued.
Reducing turnout and the conservatives' lead would likely make it harder to form a stable coalition and would increase the likelihood that the AfD and another Russia-friendly party could together hold enough seats to gum up parliamentary business.
The bot networks' messaging seemed designed to help the AfD, said Felix Kartte, a misinformation specialist at the Mercator Institute.
"A scared society is much more sensitive to authoritarian narratives," he said.
Another set of posts made unfounded allegations that Merz, whose bloc's lead over the AfD has shrunk from 15% to 8% over the course of campaign, suffered from a mental illness that had been covered up.
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