Putin casually rides a bear with sunglasses, a rocket can be seen in the bright blue background. A harmless picture that was shared thousands of times on Facebook in March, you might think. If it hadn’t been distributed by a fake account that, like thousands, is part of a Russian campaign. Anyone who wants to manipulate the masses does not need meetings in stadiums, megaphones or posters today – a few computers are more useful. The internet and social media are ideal tools to influence millions. We are feeling that at the moment, the war in Ukraine has already been called the first “Tiktok war”. Reports, photos and videos from the contested areas reach us almost in real time. Some have been edited, falsified and are deliberately distributed. How does online information warfare work? Why are we vulnerable? Can you fight back?
Almost all adults in Germany regularly use the Internet. Messenger service Whatsapp is the most popular among social media, with an estimated 50 million active in this country every day. This is followed by YouTube and Facebook, while Instagram and the video portal Tiktok are very popular with younger people. The speed at which information spreads is enormous. On Twitter alone, the forum particularly frequented by politicians and journalists, around 500 million posts are made every day. Anyone can network online and express their opinion unfiltered.