Russian influence campaign suspected: CORRECTIV Report potentially fabricated
In a series of investigations, the German non-profit investigative journalism organisation CORRECTIV has taken action against a disinformation campaign targeting German politician Jens Spahn. The campaign, known as "Storm-1516," is believed to be orchestrated by actors from Russia.
The campaign began on August 1, when various profiles on platform X started circulating a video falsely claiming that Spahn, along with Friedrich Merz and Manfred Weber, had paid bribes to the Green faction in the European Parliament. The video, which uses the CORRECTIV logo, claims that an EU employee made the accusations. However, CORRECTIV did not publish such an article or video.
In a first investigation, CORRECTIV showed the connections between Spahn and tech billionaire Christian Angermayer. Following this, in a second investigation, CORRECTIV revealed the connections between Spahn and IT millionaire Frank Gotthardt. Despite these investigations, the disinformation campaigners built on CORRECTIV's research about Spahn's network.
The Russian fake, presented as a third investigation about Spahn, was taken down by the hosting provider "Hostinger" after a request from CORRECTIV. The fake news websites created by Storm-1516 are known for linking to the Russian government.
The alleged audio recording of the EU employee in the video is also fake. Matthias Bau and Gabriele Scherndl, the editors of CORRECTIV, are working diligently to combat this disinformation, providing daily updates in the CORRECTIV Spotlight.
CORRECTIV's new book, "Europe's Arsonists: Putin's War Against the West," covers content related to the propagandists' use of CORRECTIV's research about Spahn's network. The book, which focuses on power, abuse, as well as moments that show potential for improvement in society, is a testament to CORRECTIV's commitment to truth and transparency.
Despite CORRECTIV's efforts, the videos and posts are still online on X. The platform did not respond to a request from CORRECTIV to take down the false content. It is crucial that platforms take responsibility for the content they host and work to combat disinformation in order to protect the integrity of democratic processes.
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