The German government is concerned about Russian attempts to manipulate the Bundestag elections. In addition to foreign influence and disinformation efforts in the run-up to important elections, the “targeted discrediting” of certain politicians is also part of these attempts, said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) to the Süddeutsche Zeitung (Saturday edition).
In mid-November, a KI-generated video with defamations against Economy Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) appeared on a short-notice website, which was later spread by numerous accounts on X and Telegram. “Our security authorities are analyzing the infamous false information about Robert Habeck” Faeser said. The origin of the video has not been clearly identified so far, but the suspicion falls on state Russian institutions. It is clear that “targeted lies and discrediting belong to the toolbox of Putin’s propaganda apparatus” Faeser added.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had warned in late November about extensive influence attempts on the Bundestag election, primarily from Russia. German security authorities assume that the Greens are particularly in the focus.
Konstantin von Notz, the deputy faction leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, considers the increasing use of KI-generated disinformation like Deepfakes a “serious security policy problem.” The Ministry of the Interior, led by Faeser, missed the opportunity to present a strategy against influence attempts by foreign states before the election, the chairman of the Parliamentary Control Committee said to the newspaper. This is “almost reckless.