"Fake News" Threatens Germany's Election, Angela Merkel Warns Berlin

"Fake news" threatens Deutschland'due south election - Chancellor Merkel

Post-obit Donald Trump's surprise ballot victory, Facebook's content propagation policies have come up into question for perhaps influencing the election results. But, information technology'southward non just the Americans who are worried about how sensationalist websites could take impacted the democratic process. German Chancellor in her first speech since announcing her decision of running for a 4th term called for greater scrutiny of fake news circulating online.

Post-ballot statistics have shown that false stories proved more viral on social media than important articles with legitimate sources.

Simulated news and net trolls threaten Frg'due south election - Merkel

In her speech given to the Bundestag, German Parliament, Merkel said on Wednesday the regime has ignored the potential of faux news influencing public opinion for far too long. It has been questioned since November 8 to what extent did these stories - that were presented as legitimate media outlets - shape the voter opinions.

"Something has changed - as globalization has marched on, [political] debate is taking place in a completely new media environment. Opinions aren't formed the way they were 25 years ago," Merkel, who represents a center-right political political party, said in the Bundestag. "Today we have fake sites, bots, trolls - things that regenerate themselves, reinforcing opinions with certain algorithms, and we accept to larn to deal with them."

Federal republic of germany will hold national elections in September side by side yr, and many suspect that the far-right political party might win the election based on these sensationalist stories and populist fears about immigration.

"I believe we should non underestimate what is happening in the context of the Internet and with digitalization; this is part of our reality," Merkel said. "We accept regulations that allow for our press freedom, including the requirement for due diligence from journalists. Today nosotros have many that feel a media that is based on very different foundations and is much less regulated."

The concerns of political polarization only heightened later on the reports of the far-correct Breitbart News, the highly conservative and pro-Trump news site, planning to launch in German ahead of the election. Berlin is now discussing whether the regime should regulate online media sites similar to the scrutiny of newspapers, radio and Television broadcasters.

"Populism and political extremes are growing in Western democracies," Merkel warned. "A lot of people are concerned near the stability of our social order. Of a sudden information technology seems that what nosotros considered self-evident isn't that self-evident subsequently all."