For weeks, a wave of attacks has been targeting Signal users in Germany and abroad. Among those targeted are security officials, politicians, and journalists. A CORRECTIV investigation found digital evidence pointing to Russian involvement in the campaign – and a connection to previous attacks in Ukraine and Moldova.

A CORRECTIV investigation has uncovered that a Russian disinformation campaign established around 100 fake websites ahead of Germany’s general election. Their purpose: to influence the election campaign due to take place in February. In several cases, these sites have already been used to discredit German politicians.

The spread of fake websites by the Russian disinformation campaign Doppelganger has largely been stopped. The people behind the campaign had been using a Ukrainian service provider – which quickly blocked the Russian customer after a CORRECTIV inquiry. Doppelganger’s digital footprints meanwhile lead directly to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.

For two years, Russia has been spreading its propaganda using cloned websites of Western media outlets. The campaign known as "Doppelganger" hasn’t been stopped yet – despite being sanctioned by the EU and US. A CORRECTIV investigation found that European companies are part of the internet infrastructure that keeps the campaign running.

Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has stepped up disinformation and hacking campaigns against the West. A CORRECTIV investigation shows how two brothers from Moldova provide the technology needed for these attacks.

We asked three of the best-known AI chatbots multiple questions on the upcoming EU elections and international politics. Our experiment shows: Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT fail when it comes to answering political questions. They make false statements about candidates or fabricate sources. Depending on the language, the bots also provide very different answers.

A network of fake accounts on Facebook is agitating against Ukraine and has been sharing fake pro-Russian articles and websites for months. Politicians of the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland seem to also benefit: the network ran ads to promote content by the party’s politicians.

Despite Facebook’s supposed takedown last year, a pro-Russian disinformation campaign continues to be active on the social-media platform. It is promoting spoofed news and government websites, as well as content by politicians of Germany’s far-right AfD party.

In March the EU banned Russian broadcasters. Among them RT, formerly known as Russia Today. Since then, its German version RT DE has been advertising digital loopholes to work around its suspension. Above all: mirror pages, dozens of them. Why have the responsible German authorities not managed to shut them down?

They stir up hatred against migration or spread misinformation: Media outlets from eleven European countries are cooperating to increase their influence. They are close to parties like the FPÖ, the AfD or Fratelli d’Italia. At the heart of it all: the website “Unser Mitteleuropa” (Our Central Europe) and a dead Austrian man with contacts to the right-wing extremist scene.

This report details the knowledge that CORRECTIV.Faktencheck has gained over five years of monitoring mis- and disinformation during elections. It highlights the 2021 federal elections in Germany and the key learnings that can be drawn from it. This includes the different tasks within the team, monitored platforms, tools, and thoughts behind the chosen approach.