German elections: ISD finds that Right-wing party AfD greatly benefitted from the online climate debate

During the 2021 German federal elections, ISD found that Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) was the party that most benefitted from the climate change debate on social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. AfD successfully mobilised their base by using very emotionally provocative language and arguments online, as stated by report co-author, Paula Matlach to the Berliner Morgenpost, achieving up 40 and 237 percent more shares than posts on other topics such as migration or European politics.

Paula Matlach is a Research Associate at ISD. She studies the spread of disinformation and propaganda in German and English-speaking countries. A range of her work can be found in our publications section.