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Russian disinformation bots and AI deepfakes spread ahead of German elections

Russian disinformation groups reportedly used AI-generated deepfake videos and fake news campaigns to spread false content about German politicians across social media ahead of February 2025 parliamentary elections, according to reports by monitoring organizations and media outlets.

6 February 2025 · Storm-1516 · Misinformation and synthetic media
6 February 2025

Drafted by Raidu Incident Detection, an automated system.

AII-1002-656893 sources ↓
Quick facts
Category
Misinformation and synthetic media
Country
Germany
Source
jurnalul.ro
Date
6 February 2025
Drafted by
Raidu Incident Detection

What happened

Russian disinformation campaigns including Storm-1516 and Doppelganger spread AI-generated false content and deepfake videos across German social media platforms ahead of parliamentary elections on 23 February 2025.

The campaigns used artificial intelligence to create deepfake videos falsely depicting politicians making statements. In November 2024, a video was published claiming a Ukrainian-supporting parliamentarian was a Russian spy. Another deepfake video showed an 18-year-old woman falsely accusing a German minister of child abuse.

Doppelganger, operated by Russian PR firm Social Design Agency, created fake news articles resembling legitimate publications, with networks of social media accounts sharing content that appeared to come from concerned citizens.

Reported impact

German voters were exposed to large volumes of AI-generated disinformation and deepfake content on social media platforms during the election campaign.

Index analysis

Experts monitoring social networks identified Russian groups Storm-1516 and Doppelganger as being involved in the disinformation campaign, with similar tactics also used in US elections in 2024.

Classification

Category
Misinformation and synthetic media
Industry
Media, social platforms and marketing
Country
Germany
Harm status
Actual harm
Intent
Intentional
Timing
Unknown
Harm types
Public interest, Reputational
Harmed
General public
Failure modes
Deepfake video, Hallucination, Manipulation or dark pattern
Consequences
None recorded
AI systems
AI deepfake generation tools

Sources and evidence

This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.

jurnalul.ro
Conținut fals generat de IA și campanii de dezinformare rusești, înainte de alegerile din Germania
21 February 2025
Mediafax.ro
Alegerile din Germania, bombardate de conţinut generat cu AI. Campanii de dezinformare orchestrate de Rusia
21 February 2025
digi24.ro
În campania electorală din Germania au fost folosiți influenceri creați cu inteligența artificială pentru a favoriza extrema-dreaptă
22 February 2025
Jul 2026Russian Military Intelligence Targets French Presidential Candidate With Deepfake CampaignConfirmedMisinformation and synthetic mediaYahoo actualités20minutesAnadolu Ajansı+5Jun 2026Russian disinformation campaign targets AI systems via fake websitesReportedMisinformation and synthetic mediaespreso.tvУКРІНФОРМJul 2025Russian disinformation campaign spreads AI-generated deepfake of German Chancellor MerzReportedMisinformation and synthetic mediaZN.UAOBOZREVATELJun 2025Far-right activists use AI to generate dystopian European city videosWell documentedMisinformation and synthetic mediafrance24.comcomputing.co.ukcsohate.org+1Feb 2025Russia-linked disinformation campaign spreads fake election fraud claims in German federal electionConfirmedMisinformation and synthetic mediapolitico.eu