Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) – Hesse’s state government is providing around 640,000 euros for the development of an Internet portal against conspiracy stories. The platform “Der Fabulant” will be the focus of the “Hessian prevention network against conspiracy stories and disinformation set up in May 2022,” said Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) in Wiesbaden before the traditional autumn talks of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. On Tuesday evening, experts in Wiesbaden wanted to discuss how disinformation endangers free democracy under the motto “Attack on the Truth”.
“In light of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, we are seeing that disinformation campaigns are spreading at breakneck speed, especially in the so-called social media,” explained Beuth. “Fake news is not only spread in autocracies to cover up wars of aggression against sovereign neighbors as “special military operations”.
In Germany, too, false reports are being spread by extremists, for example, in order to create a mood – mostly against democratic values. “That’s why we’re declaring war on these disinformation campaigns and promoting projects that break up conspiracy stories and educate about disinformation,” explained Beuth. A free formation of opinion is only possible on the basis of fact-based information.
According to the ministry, the “Der Fabulant” portal is aimed at a broad public. Informative and humorous articles are intended to educate about rampant conspiracy stories. The sponsors of the portal are therefore the civil society extremism prevention experts from the organization “modus zad”.
