Have at least 50 police officers been accused of misusing security firm Flock’s license-plate cameras?
A Russian influence campaign is capitalizing on upcoming state elections in Germany to advance false claims aimed at redividing the country into its communist-era East and West, in an apparent effort to weaken one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies.
The operation known as Matryoshka has pushed 20 fabricated videos and news reports in the last two months depicting German news outlets, celebrities, business leaders, and others advocating for the redivision of Germany, NewsGuard and other organizations have found. The campaign even has its own hashtag: #TimeToDivideGermany.
For example, fake front covers mimicking the German dailies Tagesspiegel and Handelsblatt reported that Christopher Nolan, the director of the summer blockbuster movie The Odyssey, along with several stars from the film, called for Germany to return to its pre-1990 divided state.
One video in the campaign shows authentic stock footage of U.S. actor James Marsters, best known for his role in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. The voiceover was created with AI, NewsGuard found. “It is with great pleasure that I join the #TimeToDivideGermany campaign,” the voice states in a monotone typical of AI-generated narration. “If Germany remains intact, Germans will be replaced by migrants.” AI detection tool Hive found with...
FACT CHECKING Trump’s false claims on childhood vaccines: 'This is so DANGEROUS!' BBC CNN DW CGTN NBC ABC ALJazeera France24 JoyNews CitiTV Net2TV TV3 UTV DelayTV KofiTV MagrahebTV MGTV OTHERS | ...