I would like to start by saying how pleased I am that we have at least one of the crises of our time under sufficient control so that the symposium of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution can return to being an in-person event this year. I am also pleased to be here with you today, and would like to take this opportunity to thank the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution for the successful cooperation.

When the topic was chosen for this symposium, many probably did not expect it to have the urgency it does today.

We are currently experiencing one of the most precarious situations in global politics in decades. To describe the war in Ukraine as a “historic shift” or as marking a “new era” would not be an exaggeration.

Putin’s brutal and criminal war of aggression against Ukraine has made it starkly apparent to us that we need to do more for our security in order to preserve our liberal democracy. And this not only applies to military measures. We also need to take greater efforts when it comes to cyber defence measures, civil protection and disaster management and in protecting critical infrastructures. Because, ladies and gentlemen, internal and external security go hand in hand.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution plays a major role in protecting our security architecture. And protecting the constitution is now more important than ever.

Because this new war in Europe is a real threat to our security. This threat includes espionage and cyber attacks. Not only this, but it also brings with it influence campaigns run by foreign powers which aim to destabilise our democracy through propaganda, lies and targeted disinformation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This is a time of major change, uncertainty and danger, and so objective information on the situation is invaluable, both for political decision-makers and for every member of the public.

It is not always easy to tell the difference between objective information and deliberately false information; sometimes, things are invented out of nowhere. But sometimes, things are intentionally taken out of context or exaggerated, or important information is left out. The opinions of the few are often presented as those of the majority. The reach of certain content is being manipulated. And I am not simply talking about written texts: even images and videos are becoming increasingly easy to manipulate, something which is known as deep fakes.

Disinformation threatens our liberal democracy. Because it tries to divide us as a society. Because it tries to cause harm. Because its aim is to intensify existing conflicts and debates in society. To undermine the trust placed in government institutions. And to spark anger and hate.

When foreign states use disinformation campaigns to pursue their own political interests aggressively without resorting to military force, this constitutes a hybrid threat. Because, when disinformation is used by state actors, its possibilities are endless, making it especially powerful.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how state actors use disinformation: for more than two years now, Russia and China in particular have been spreading disinformation and propaganda in Germany.

And we have now reached a new dimension in Germany since Russia launched its war of aggression against Ukraine. There is a reason behind the saying that “the first casualty, when war comes, is truth”.

Since the beginning, Putin and his government have been using lies to try to justify their war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international war. For example, his government has been spreading the lie that Ukraine was committing genocide in the Donbas region. Or that Ukraine was planning an attack on Russia. And they have even been using misleading language, such as the euphemism that Russia is merely carrying out a limited “special operation”.

Putin’s regime also wants to paint the narrative of “Russophobia” in the West. It is using this to try to influence Germany’s Russian-speaking population as well.

Russia has mainly been using its state media outlets to spread disinformation, such as Russia Today and Sputnik. That is why the EU imposed sanctions against these outlets shortly after the war broke out. This has enabled us to significantly restrict the reach of pro-Russian media.

Since then, pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda have been spread through social media accounts, including pro-Kremlin Twitter accounts. There are also attempts to steer users to alternative platforms such as Telegram.

Now, even Russian diplomats are commenting on developments in the war in Ukraine. The missions of the Russian Federation are sometimes very aggressive in their approach to spreading Russia’s official stance on the war.

This is something we are seeing with the Russian Embassy in Berlin. It has set up an “SOS” email address for reporting cases of “bullying, harassment, threats, attacks and physical violence” aimed at Russian nationals. The alleged cases presented on the Russian embassy’s website cannot be verified.

I must stress that we are not powerless against this, ladies and gentlemen.

Even though combating disinformation has become more complex in the digital age compared to the past, when all we had were flyers, print newspapers and television, as a resilient democracy, we are able to respond to these challenges. We have four possibilities for action here:

We can help make sure that disinformation cannot be spread in the first place. We can do this by identifying the channels most often used to spread disinformation and prevent them from being able to do so.

And, in the context of disinformation, this is completely justified. The EU was right to impose sanctions on Russia Today. This media outlet was not expressing opinions – it was broadcasting war propaganda controlled by the Russian government. Ladies and gentlemen, as resilient European democracies, we cannot take this lying down.

If false information does make its way into the public sphere, then we need to ensure that it is removed to prevent it from being spread even further.

To achieve this, we are in close communication with the operators of social media platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter to raise their awareness of state-sponsored disinformation, as well of the importance of acting swiftly when disinformation does appear.

Not only this, but fact-checking and debunking can also be used to counter false information with factually correct information from trustworthy sources.

For this reason, immediately after the war began, my ministry set up an interministerial and inter-agency task force to identify false information from Russia and to refute it as quickly as possible. We are also running an extensive awareness campaign on disinformation with links to fact checks on the websites of my ministry as well as the website of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government.

In specific cases, false information is debunked by actively providing the public with the facts. This is done by the responsible ministries, while the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community ensures close cooperation between the ministries concerned.

However, in combating disinformation, it is crucial that we continue to work hard to ensure that this disinformation does not find fertile ground. We need to strengthen the public’s resilience to disinformation.

Our antidote is education!

When it comes to media literacy, we need to start with children, teaching them to never trust just one source without checking others, and to never settle for oversimplified answers. We are also focusing on elderly people when it comes to promoting media and information literacy.

Here we mainly focus on groups who are a particular target of disinformation: for example, the Russian-speaking population and people of Russian descent, whom we also want to reach in the Russian language.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The aim of all these efforts on various levels is to recognise and prevent hybrid threats. In order to make progress at international level, we are in regular contact with our partners in the EU, the G7 and NATO. This is because disinformation is a challenge facing all democratic societies and we can tackle it more effectively by joining forces.

That is why we also support the coordinated action against disinformation by the EU Member States. Recently, the EU approved a legal act on digital services which requires social networks to be more transparent.

We will also use this year’s G7 Presidency to promote the fight against disinformation among these strong democracies.

But while we are moving the issue from national to international level, we also need to focus on the federal states and municipalities within Germany.

To make this happen, my ministry has launched an initiative for a joint action plan between the Federal Government and the federal states for the fight against disinformation. Because by working together, the federal, state and local governments can add to the measures taken by the EU and the Federal Government and, by doing so, increase our society’s resilience.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Despite all these efforts, we must accept that they have their limits. So long as we have access to information, there will always be attempts to use false information to manipulate others. Disinformation cannot be eliminated by laws alone.

Having said this, nobody should feel intimidated by disinformation or powerless against it. We need to keep working on becoming more resilient as a society each and every day, just as we need continue standing up for our open and liberal democracy. Fighting for the truth is not easy. But it is worth it.

The fight against disinformation is one of the main challenges we face in protecting our constitution, which is why we must view this protection as more than just the responsibility of the domestic intelligence services. Protecting our constitution is a task that involves both government and society.
Disinformation finds support particularly in areas of our society where resentments and conspiracy myths are already widespread. Today’s symposium will also shed light on these major challenges we face as a society, which are just as problematic.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I hope you have a productive symposium, with inspiring presentations and insightful discussions. But most importantly, I hope you come away with many ideas for our continued cooperation!

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