German intelligence agents run hundreds of ‘dubious’ fake accounts on social media

The government of the German state of Brandenburg has admitted that its local intelligence bureau runs 287 fake accounts on social media. The admission came in the government’s response to an AFD parliamentary query and was reported by the German wire service DPA and confirmed by the local parliamentary group of the opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Citing state interests (Staatswohl), however, the government refused to reveal further details on the social media platforms used by the intelligence agents or the exact targets of their operations (such as “right-wing extremism”, “left-wing extremism” or Islamism). The AfD Brandenburg has vowed to take legal action to force the disclosure of more detailed data. 

The revelation is of particular significance for the AfD, since, as reported by Brussels Signal, the party has itself been under investigation by German domestic intelligence, the so-called Office for the Protection of the Constitution, for alleged right-wing “extremism”. Party officials contend that the presence of German domestic intelligence agents in chat-groups and on social media means that evidence favouring this designation is tainted.

Thus in a statement released by the AfD Brandenburg, Fabian Jank, one of the three authors of the parliamentary query, accused the regional government of wanting to keep the “dubious online activities” of the intelligence bureau secret, so that citizens cannot find out “how they are being spied on by fake accounts on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok – or that supposed right-wing agitators are in fact paid agents of the state.”

In a Facebook reel, Dennis Hohlock, another of the authors of the parliamentary query, cited the kind of racist views that are attributed to party members such as “No black person can become a German” and warned that “when you read something like that in the internet, it could be that it is coming directly from the intelligence service”.

In response to an earlier parliamentary query, the government of the city-state of Berlin already acknowledged last December that its intelligence bureau is running 236 fake accounts in social media, including 59 on Facebook, 36 on X, 15 on TikTok, and even one on Spotify. The largest number are devoted to “right-wing extremism,” followed by Islamism. 

Also in response to a parliamentary query, the government of the state of Saxony has admitted that its intelligence bureau is running a number of fake accounts “in the lower three figures” without entering into further details. There are altogether 16 regional intelligence bureaus in Germany plus the federal bureau.

In 2022, the German daily Die Süddeutsche Zeitung already reported that German domestic intelligence, including both the federal bureau and regional branches, was running “over a hundred” fake social media accounts specifically dedicated to infiltrating the far-right scene. In light of the recent admissions from the regional bureaus, the indication is that the real number must be much higher than that.