Who spreads disinformation, where, for what purpose, and to what extent?

Disinformation poses a threat to democracy — or so the widely shared narrative goes. But how much false information do politicians actually spread? On which platforms, and to what ends? Two new studies provide systematic answers: they show that disinformation is not a marginal phenomenon confined to social media, but also appears in talk shows on public television. The AfD, the CDU/CSU, and the BSW are particularly active, albeit with different objectives. While the AfD primarily targets institutions, the CDU/CSU use disinformation mainly to attack political opponents. This blog post summarises three key findings.

Attacks on the foundations of democracy, such as free elections or the independence of courts, are widely discussed. Disinformation is often regarded as one form of these assaults. Social media, in particular, is suspected of facilitating the spread of falsehoods. But is this justified? Together with colleagues, I have conducted two studies on the dissemination of disinformation by German politicians. One examined disinformation on social media (Nenno, Puschmann, Fuławka, and Lorenz-Spreen 2025), and the other investigated the phenomenon on public television (Nenno 2025). In this blog post, I would like to share three key findings that shed light on who spreads disinformation, where, for what purpose, and to what extent.

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