With less than a month until Germans go out and vote in the parliamentary election, lawmakers are warning that authoritarian states, including Russia, are using disinformation to stoke instability.
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00:00With less than a month until the German elections, MPs are warning that authoritarian states,
00:05including Russia, are using disinformation to stoke instability.
00:09The German foreign ministry identified the doppelganger group of being behind
00:14fake news social media accounts in Germany.
00:16CSU politician Thomas Erndl confirmed that the government is aware
00:21Russia is trying to influence elections in Europe, especially in Poland and in Germany.
00:26Russia is trying very hard.
00:30It will certainly have consequences.
00:33The accession to the AfD, for example, is based on these mechanisms.
00:40Doubts of our state, of our institutions.
00:44To see, to spread that nothing works,
00:48that foreigners and refugees are a big problem.
00:54Euronews requested a comment from the Russian embassy in Berlin regarding the allegations,
01:00but received no response before publication.
01:24We need to use modern technology, artificial intelligence,
01:27which helps in the analysis of these processes.
01:31But we also need an awareness in the population,
01:36and I think we still have a long way to go.
01:39Green politician Konstantin von Notz told Euronews that authoritarian states,
01:44like Russia and China, export democratic vulnerabilities through disinformation.
01:50News services are also an important means of countering this influence.
01:56We need better equipment, more staff,
02:00but above all, more legal powers.
02:04I think that the pendulum has to swing back a little
02:07in view of the security requirements,
02:10and that's why we have to give the services more rights.
02:14Erndl recommends strong European coordination to tackle disinformation,
02:18especially if perpetrators are located abroad.
02:21Von Notz criticizes both the EU and German Interior Ministry
02:25for failing to tackle the problem of disinformation adequately.